The Mystimorph Chronicles
by Depth of Soul
Summary: Ginny and Draco have found out they are legendary mystimorphs, able to transform into a phoenix and a dragon! But what will they do when they find out they're meant to play a part in the Second War? Can they forget their differences and work together?
1. Beginning

Disclaimer: Yeah, I'm J.K. Rowling and I've decided to take a break from writing the sixth Harry Potter book (no, I won't tell you anything about it!) to relax, sit back at my computer, eat some cheese doodles, and write a Harry Potter fanfic (although can it really be called that if I'm the actual creator of Harry Potter? Why am I doing a disclaimer; can I sue myself?) that focuses around Ginny and Draco (with a romance between the two, of course!) instead of boring old Harry. ... Okay, you caught me! I'M NOT J.K. ROWLING, i.e., I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER. You no sue-ee me, I no sue-ee you. Capisce?

Author's Note: Yes, yes, I know I'm supposed to be working on the third chapter of "Soulmates." I am, I really am! It's just that this story has been stuck in my head for days, and this first chapter just entirely wrote itself in my head and I just _had_ to get it onto paper! I promise that I'll try to get "Soulmates" updated within the next few weeks (though I doubt any of you care, LOL).  
  
Okay, I'm pretty sure the Harry Potter books don't say anything much about what kinds of animals animagi can turn into, so I'm going to make up the rule that animagi can't turn into mystical creatures, for the sake of this story. (Although that sounds _really_ familiar to me, as if I've read that somewhere, but I can't find anything saying that in the books or on the internet... If anyone does know that it says that somewhere, it would be great if you could refer me to that quotation. Thanks! =D) Also, I have no idea about the Quidditch teams around the world, so I'm just making that up as I go along.  
  
Oh, by the way, I'm American, just so you know. Thought I'd point that out, considering how I make America sound at the beginning of this chapter.

--

The Mystimorph Chronicles

Nine redheads stood inside the Weasleys' dining room in the Burrow, smiles shining on all of their faces. In the midst of the redheads stood two brunettes, a boy and a girl, laughing and talking with the rest. They were surrounding a table that, if one didn't know that it belonged to a wizarding family, seemed to be unable to withstand the pile of mostly homemade goodies stacked on top of it. On the Weasleys' dining room table sat a humongous chocolate birthday cake (with candles that were enchanted to burn for four hours), chocolate chip cookies, Molly Weasley's famous fudge, some sweets that were courtesy of Fred and George (which were being left alone by everyone in the room), apple pie with whipped cream, all different kinds of flavors of ice cream, and many more mouthwatering desserts.  
  
The party was to celebrate the sixteenth birthday of the only daughter and youngest child of Arthur and Molly Weasley—Ginny Weasley. The guest of honor was seated at the end of the table, talking to her brother Ron, Harry Potter, and Hermione Granger about a recent development in the Quidditch World Cup. Ginny's face was alight with ecstasy and delight at the surprise party her family and friends had thrown for her. Her whole family was in attendance, even Percy, and she was so happy that she didn't care about the fact that she wouldn't get any gifts from her parents, not that she was unused to it.  
  
Ginny had grown up to be quite unspoiled due to the monetary status of her family. In recent times, though, her family had grown even more destitute, and Ginny had to get a summer job at the nearby wizarding library to help pay for some of the expenses. This was all due to the fact that Arthur Weasley had received a pay cut in his salary, along with many other Ministry workers, because the war against Voldemort had been using up the Ministry's financial resources. (At this point in the war, things seemed to have died down and everyone knew this was because Voldemort was planning something big. Because of the magnitude of the situation, only the trained Aurors of the Ministry were assigned to work on it, and the Weasleys were doing their best to keep things normal for now.) Despite the impoverishment of her family, Molly Weasley had still been able to whip up all of those desserts for the party, being the genius in the kitchen that she was.  
  
"I can't believe Bulgaria got kicked out of the running yesterday! I figured they were a sure thing to win the Cup this year!" Ginny exclaimed.  
  
"Yeah, they're good, but I never really did expect them to make it to the semi-finals myself. I mean, they have really strong beaters, but only fair chasers and a mediocre seeker, compared to the other top teams. Their main problem, though, is their defense; they have a really bad keeper in Hasselvich this year. The team has seemed to have lowered its standards," Harry pointed out.  
  
"My money is on Britain to beat Ireland in their semi-final match, America to beat Spain in their semi-final match, and Britain to take it all at the World Cup," Ron declared with a mouth full of fudge. "The USA seems to have a wicked team this year, but good ol' Britain will beat 'em, I just know it."  
  
"I'm not so sure about that, Ron..." Hermione said, then adding, "and don't talk with your mouth full."  
  
"Why would you say that, Hermione? You don't even keep up with the Cup!" he replied indignantly, pretending to ignore her second statement but swallowing and wiping his mouth all the same.  
  
"Well..." Hermione began, smiling because she had something to say in the discussion and she knew something that the others didn't. "When I visited the library in Diagon Alley yesterday while you guys were at the quidditch shop—"  
  
"It's the summer before our last year at Hogwarts, and you were spending it in the library? When you could've been hanging out with us?! Wait... There's a library in Diagon Alley?" Ron interrupted, earning glares from Harry and Ginny, who were interested in the information Hermione was about to indulge them with. They had no clue what she was about to say, because in their eyes the United States were actually the best bet to take the World Cup home this year.  
  
"Yes, Ron, there is," Hermione answered, not answering his first two questions. "But if I may continue... I was at the library, doing some research when I heard two men talking rather loudly a few tables away from me. They were so loud that I was distracted from my potions research and I couldn't help but overhear their conversation. They were making early bets on the World Cup, and one of them said, 'I think I'm going to put all of my money on USA,' and the other told him that that wouldn't be a very good idea, due to the claims that have been made recently..."  
  
"Claims? What sort of claims? How come we haven't heard about them in the Daily Prophet?" Harry wondered.  
  
"Well, America is probably trying to keep it all under wraps at the moment. Also, from what I heard, it only happened a few days ago..." Hermione's voice was rapidly getting quieter as she spoke, heightening the dramatic tension of her words.  
  
"Gosh, Hermione, you really know how to drag out suspense, huh?" Ginny joked. Her whole upper body was leaning over the birthday cake and across the table as she tried to catch every word Hermione was saying. Her fiery red, waist-long hair was falling across her shoulders and into the cake.  
  
"Virginia Weasley, I know it's your birthday, but _please_ don't get so close to the cake or you'll catch your hair on fire!" Molly Weasley scolded from across the table.  
  
"What?" Ginny said, looking down at her hair and seeing that it was centimeters away from her birthday candles at the moment. "Oh, sorry, Mum," she apologized distractedly while leaning back in her chair and pulling her hair behind her back. "I'll be more careful."  
  
"Okay, well, go on, Hermione! Tell us what's going on, we're dying!" Ron persuaded.  
  
"Okay, okay. Well, apparently the American team has been using illegal charms and things to enhance their strength, speed, and all sorts of other things in order to win their games!"  
  
"No way!" Ginny breathed, eyes wide.  
  
"I can't believe they'd stoop so low!" Harry exclaimed, angry that such a thing could happen in Quidditch.  
  
"It's exactly something that those Americans would pull! Americans are just plain wrong, I tell you! Dirty, lowdown little—"  
  
"Ron! You can't make a generalization about a whole country like that! That's just plain bigotry!" Hermione reprimanded, rolling her eyes from exasperation at her boyfriend.  
  
"I can't see how you're defending them when they've done something so horrible, Hermione," he replied.  
  
"So what's going to happen with the World Cup? Will America be disqualified and Spain put in the finals by default?" Ginny asked no one in particular.  
  
"Heck if I know, Gin. I don't think anything like this has ever happened before, and there will be a lot of problems this year if those claims are true," Harry replied, staring at the wall opposite him as if the answer were written there for him to read.  
  
Ginny looked at Hermione and Ron, who had apparently somehow gone from arguing about Americans and prejudice to arguing about arithmancy. "Honestly, I don't know what goes on in their heads..." Ginny thought to herself, smiling. Suddenly, she felt a tingling sensation on her left hand for a quick second. Confused, Ginny turned to Harry to see if he had just been touching her to get her attention, but Harry was no longer in his seat; he'd gotten up to go talk to Fred and George about their latest inventions. She looked back down at her hand, but didn't see anything. She decided it must've been a few loose strands of her hair tickling her hand or something, but then she felt it again, and her mouth dropped open at what she saw before her. Her hand was turning a rich red color!  
  
"Could you excuse me, Hermione? I've, er, got to go to the bathroom," Ginny lied, trying to squeeze between Hermione's chair and the wall.  
  
"Oh, sure, sorry," Hermione answered, scooting her chair closer to Ron's, causing him to grin for a second but then remember he was fighting with her and replace the smile with a frown.  
  
Ginny bounded up the Burrow's narrow steps and threw herself into her bathroom, locking the door behind her. The bathroom wasn't elegant, but it was very large and comfortable. Instead of having a floor made out of tile like most bathrooms, this one had carpet that wasn't extremely soft, but it wasn't rough. There were large mirrors along one wall, above the counter, and the wallpaper was blue with seagulls on it, which always made Ginny think of the beach.  
  
Ginny jumped in front of the counter and looked down at her hand again, but it was the same flesh color it always was. Maybe she had just imagined things in all her excitement... She glanced at her face in the mirror, trying to notice if her face looked any different than usual. No, her face was still pale (but not in an unattractive way) except for the very light shade of pink that was permanently etched across her cheeks that would always glow brighter when she was happy. The same dusting of freckles was across her nose, annoying her to no end. Her eyes were not red, but the same chocolate brown that she had always found so dull and boring. Her nose was still too small for her face, she thought, and her lips were still light pink and as thin as ever.  
  
A sigh escaped her pink lips as she thought about how unexciting her features were and wondered how she'd ever gotten the boyfriends she had gotten in the past. She'd been told by many guys and girls that she was beautiful and petite, probably one of the most beautiful girls in her year, but she couldn't understand what would make them think that. "Maybe I'm just too hard on myself..." she though. "The fact that I had six older brothers tease me about my looks as a child probably didn't do much for my self-esteem when it came to my outward appearance." She looked back into the mirror to examine her freckles when she noticed that her lips had gone from a pink color to a yellowish color.  
  
"Am I getting sick, or am I just mad?" she said out loud as she begun to notice her ears shrinking. She squeezed her eyes tight shut in an attempt to rub the crazy images from her eyelids, but pretty soon her whole body was tingling and she decided to keep her eyes shut. She felt her hair grow shorter across her back and her legs began to shorten also. The sensations she was feeling were indescribable, and they lasted for a whole minute. Finally, slumped against the counter, Ginny felt it all cease suddenly. She felt...different, somehow, but once more she couldn't describe the feeling. Bewildered, Ginny opened her eyes and was met by something that took her breath away.  
  
A PHOENIX. Staring back at Ginny was a beautiful, red phoenix with tints of orange and yellow hidden amongst its feathers. Its sky blue eyes were glistening and its feathers were shimmering and glittering, as if they were actually on fire. It wasn't the beauty of the phoenix that blew Ginny away, or the fact that she was actually seeing one in the Burrow. No, she was awestruck because she knew that that was _her_ in the mirror. Somehow, miraculously, she had transformed into a phoenix! Was this a dream? Ginny moved to pinch herself to check the reality of the situation, but when she lifted her arm it was just a feathered wing.  
  
"Oh...my...gosh..." she said. "Wait, whoa! I can talk!" she exclaimed, shocked that she still retained her verbal communication skills even though she was a bird. "What is going on here?..." she whispered, beginning to shiver from the freakiness of what was happening. She had just turned into a _phoenix_. This wasn't even something that Ginny had even _heard_ of being done before. Animagi, she had learned, were only capable of becoming animals that weren't magical, and they had to undergo years of training to even do that. And here Ginny was, becoming a phoenix out of the blue!  
  
Suddenly someone knocked on the door and Charlie's voice could be heard through it. "Ginny, are you all right in there? What's taking you so long?" If Ginny wasn't in the situation that she was in, and if she had the ability to, she would have smiled. Charlie was Ginny's favorite brother, and he was always looking out for her and worrying about her well-being. She loved Charlie; Ginny loved dragons almost as much as he did and that bond had always been there between them. However, Ginny knew she couldn't tell Charlie what was going on. Heck, she wouldn't even be able to unlock the door for him if she wanted to let him in!  
  
"I'm fine, Charlie! I'm just fixing my hair a bit. I'll be out in a minute!" Obviously she had no idea of the last statement were true or not, considering she had absolutely no idea what was going on. She hated lying to her brother like this.  
  
"Oh, well, okay then." Ginny heard his footsteps as he descended the steps and rejoined the party.  
  
"Oh man, oh man..." Ginny whispered as the realization of it all seemed to sink it. The dreamlike state she had been in at first was drifting away and she began to panic. What was going on?! Would she ever turn back?! How did this happen?! Why did it have to be _today_, of all days?! As the terror filled her, she began to flap her wings in helplessness, causing a bottle of Skele-gro ("You never know what can happen, Ginny, and you should always be prepared!" her mother always said) to fall down to the floor. Suddenly the room's small size registered in Ginny's brain and she began to flap her wings harder, attempting to somehow make the room larger. In the back of Ginny's mind were the instincts of a phoenix, and right now its instincts were telling Ginny to just get out.  
  
As Ginny continued to flap her wings in a frenzy, she felt the tingling sensation across her body again. Closing her eyes in relief and hope, Ginny tried to relax and see if she would turn back to normal. "Please, please, please..." she begged, squeezing her eyelids together as hard as she had during the first frightful transformation. Just like before, a minute passed of this until everything stopped all at once. Ginny opened her eyes and stood up, looking down at herself. A warm wave of relief shot through her body when she saw a normal teenage girl's body. She gazed into the mirror and she looked exactly the same as before, except her cheeks were now a bright red color. Glancing at her clothes, Ginny realized that they must have transformed with her each time.  
  
Letting out a sigh, Ginny made her way out of her bathroom and back down to the dining room, vowing that as soon as the party seemed to be over (which had to be soon, considering they'd been celebrating for hours now), she would visit the library she worked at and see if she could find out anything about what had just happened. To her delight, she saw that Harry, Hermione, and Ron had moved downstairs into the living room to talk and Bill and Mr. Weasley were now in the kitchen discussing a new spell Bill had picked up in Egypt.  
  
As soon as Ginny stepped into the dining room, Mrs. Weasley noticed her right away. "Ginny, honey, why are your cheeks so red? Are you sick?"  
  
"I'm fine, Mum. It was just a bit hot in my bathroom and I had my hair all around my face, heating me up."  
  
Mrs. Weasley believed this and instead chose to gripe about Ginny's hair. "You wouldn't have burned up so much in there if you would just cut your hair like I keep telling you to. Hair shouldn't be the length of half your body! You need to cut it, as does your broth-er!!" Molly's voice got louder as she said the word "brother" so that Bill could hear her, but Bill wasn't listening.  
  
"I know, Mom, I know," Ginny replied patiently, having heard this about a million times. "But I have to leave now, Mum."  
  
"What? Where do you have to go?"  
  
"I need to go to the library."  
  
"The library? But you've got the day off today because it's your birthday!"  
  
"I know, but I've just remembered something that I have to speak with my boss about, and it can't wait. I hope you don't mind?" Ginny said, lilting her voice at the end to make it seem as if she were asking permission instead of telling Mrs. Weasley that she was leaving.  
  
"No, that's quite all right, dear. We were pretty much finished in here anyway, and I need to get started on cleaning up the mess that you all have made," Molly said teasingly.  
  
"Thanks, Mom. I won't be back too late, I promise." Ginny moved across the room to give her mother a peck on the cheek, and then she left the house, prepared for the fifteen minute walk to the library.  
  
--  
  
"Ginny!" Mrs. Slate exclaimed as Ginny stepped inside the building. Mrs. Slate was the librarian at the Ottery St. Catchpole Library and also Ginny's boss. She was a plump woman with terrible taste in clothing, always wearing the same two cotton dresses, one pink and one blue, with roses decorated on them. Ginny loved her because she was kind and fun to be around, unless she thought someone was treating her library materials poorly or any other such thing. "What are you doing here? Today's your day off! You aren't trying to get in some overtime, are you?" Mrs. Slate teased. Ginny would often ask if she could do overtime to earn some extra money if she found something she wanted to buy for herself, but Mrs. Slate would always sadly refuse due to the low amount of funding the library received.  
  
"No, Mrs. Slate," Ginny laughed. "No, I'm here to do a bit of research, actually."  
  
"Okay, Ginny, I hope you find what you're looking for. If you need any help, you know I'm right here!"  
  
"Thanks, Mrs. Slate, but I'm sure I'll be fine."  
  
Ginny walked over to the nonfiction section of the library and, because she knew her way through the library inside and out, immediately was able to find a book about phoenixes. After a quick skimming through, however, the book proved to be useless. After replacing the phoenix book, Ginny found a book on animagi, but it didn't mention anything about turning into mystical creatures. Replacing the animagi book, Ginny picked up a book on magical creatures and looked through it. Again, she found it to be useless.  
  
This process of finding, skimming through, and replacing books continued for about 45 minutes. "Will I find _anything_ here about what happened?" she wondered. She began to think back about all she'd learned from working at the library all summer. "Where else could it possibly be?..." she thought. She then remembered the library's storage room where all the new books waited to get coded and shelved, but it was only open to employees during their work hours.  
  
"Mrs. Slate, is it okay if I go into the storage room for a bit, even though I'm not on shift?" Ginny asked.  
  
"Of course, honey! Go right on in."  
  
Inside the storage room were piles of brand new books and Ginny inhaled the new book smell of the room that she loved. She walked over to a pile of nonfiction books in the corner of the room that were stacked in two piles and began to sort through them. Before she could find one she thought would be helpful, though, her eye caught sight of a thin paperback book wedged inbetween one of the other books. Wondering what it was, she pulled it out and saw her name printed clearly on the top: Virginia Elizabeth Weasley. "What the—?" she whispered, staring at the cover. Smoothing the cover with her palm as if to erase her name and uncover the real name of the book, she opened it up to the first page and began to read what looked like an encyclopedia article:  
  
Mystimorphs - Mystimorphs are people similar to animagi in that they can transform themselves into animals. While animagi can only turn into animals that have no magical aspects to them, mystimorphs can change into such mystical creatures as dragons, hippogriffs, phoenixes, etc. Until four centuries ago, very little was known about mystimorphs, and they were even thought to have just been a myth. However, more is known about them today. Mystimorphs are similar to animagi in that they cannot control which creature they transform into, but mystimorphs are natural-born and more rare than animagi. A pattern has been found where two people are born as mystimorphs around each century. The last known mystimorphs were born around 1880. Mystimorphs are discovered on their sixteenth birthday, when they transform unwillingly into their creature. Following the first transformation, the mystimorph's destined amulet or other piece of jewelry must find its way to him or her. This jewelry, when being worn by the mystimorph and when the individual spell is uttered by him or her, can transform the person to their creature immediately or vice versa. Mystimorphs are said to still have the ability to speak while in creature form, and also they can think normally other than obtaining the instincts of their creature.  
  
"Wh-what?" Ginny breathed after finishing the article. "I'm a...a mystimorph? How come I've never heard of one of those before? I'm going to find an amulet or, or whatever that's going to transform me into a phoenix whenever I'd like? Do I have to register with the Ministry like an animagus? And why was my name on the cover of the book? Maybe I should see if there's anything else in here..." When she turned the page, she saw there was more writing:  
  
The preceding was an encyclopedia article from the year 1979. After the year 1985, however, the article stopped printing and any of the articles already in print were burned except for two. These two were meant to be contained in two separate books, one of which is this one, enchanted to find out who the mystimorphs of the century were and somehow end up in one of the mystimorph's hands. They have also been charmed so that if anyone else sees them, they will see a completely different book. If you are reading this then you have the very rare gift of a mystimorph, and you should be very proud of that. You have learned all you need to know for now about mystimorphs from the article, except for one thing—why the articles were burned and never to be printed again. This might scare you, but in the year 1985 a prophecy was made that predicted that when the mystimorphs were found, they would have a crucial part in the Second War against Voldemort, which had already been predicted. That is your destiny, and after that prophecy was made, the Minister of Magic demanded that mystimorphs be kept secret from the public from then on so that the Ministry could find you both in peace and increase its chances of defeating Voldemort. This is a great burden to have, but please don't be afraid of it, and the enclosed amulet of yours will soon find its twin piece of jewelry and you will find the other mystimorph. Good luck!  
  
Ginny stared at the book in shock, millions of thoughts and feelings swarming in her head. Her father had always warned her to never trust anything that thinks for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain. Somehow, though, Ginny just knew that this book wasn't evil like the diary back in her first year. It had been more than five years since the whole Chamber of Secrets incident, and Ginny had moved on from that, although it had still remained a part of her. She had told herself in third year that she didn't have to live in fear anymore just because of that, and things had gotten better afterwards. However, Ginny knew now to be more careful, but she couldn't describe why she knew she didn't have to worry about this book. Also, it didn't even technically _think_ for itself... It was just enchanted and someone years ago had put the article and message in there. Ginny knew she had nothing to fear when it came to this book.  
  
However, that didn't mean she had _no_ fears when it came to the situation. First of all, Ginny's mind was still reeling with the fact that she was apparently some legendary mystimorph person that seemingly had special powers and a destiny. Speaking of the destiny, she was going to play a big part in the Second War against Voldemort?! This was the sort of pressure that Harry Potter had to deal with, not Ginny Weasley! What did she even have to do with Voldemort, other than the fact that she'd communicated with his old diary? "I can't help in the war against Voldemort! I can't transform into a phoenix! This is all just a horrible dream! I can't do this..." she sighed as she closed the book in an attempt to make it all go away.  
  
As she closed the book, though, she noticed that a large bump had suddenly appeared there. Upon opening the book back up, she found a bright red amulet with a silver chain attached to it. Attached to the chain was a slip of paper reading the words "Mutatio Phoenix." Ginny assumed this was the spell she would have to say while wearing the amulet in order to transform.  
  
"Well, I don't have to transform at all, nor do I have to accept this amulet. If I don't do those things, then no one will be able to find me out and I won't have to fulfill my 'destiny'! Everything will just go back to normal!" she said, trying to convince herself. "I should take these things home with me, though..." she thought, as if in a trance. The amulet seemed to be calling out to her as if it were a child that needed her to take care of it. "I won't have to use it," she decided. "I'll just take it home with me. And I'll need to take another look at this book, too..."  
  
Ginny stood up from the room with her newly acquired book and amulet and left the room, walking over to Mrs. Slate. "Mrs. Slate, can I borrow this book for a bit even though it's not coded yet?" she asked.  
  
"A Russian cookbook? I had no idea you were interested in cooking, Ginny! But no, I won't let you borrow it. I'll do better than that and let you keep it; it's yours. Consider it a birthday present from your ol' boss," she said with a twinkle in her eye that reminded Ginny of Dumbledore.  
  
"Oh, thank you, Mrs. Slate!" Ginny exclaimed gratefully. "You're too kind to me. Well, I've got to be getting home now, though."  
  
"That's fine, Ginny. See you tomorrow at work?"  
  
"As always. Bye!"  
  
"Goodbye, dear!"  
  
--  
  
When Ginny got home, she ran straight to her room and hid the book and amulet inside a hidden compartment in the floor of her closet. "I can't let anyone find this stuff, no matter what..." she thought. "And I'm definitely never going to put on that amulet, ever." After that she went downstairs to hang out with her family and friends like a completely normal teenager whose sixteenth birthday was today.

--

Author's Note: Whoa, this chapter turned out to be a lot longer than I thought it would be! In fact, I had planned this to only be a fair third of chapter one, but since I personally don't like very lengthy chapters, I decided to end it here and start back up again in Chapter Two. So I might be even later on my "Soulmates" update, but you guys won't mind, right? Right!   
  
Also, "mutatio" is Latin for "change" or "transformation," and "phoenix" is obviously Latin for "phoenix." =)

And I want to say that you're probably thinking right now, "That's it?! Why isn't she freaking out more?! If I suddenly turned into a phoenix and found out I was a mystimorph with a destiny to help defeat Voldemort, I would FREAK OUT!" Well, I was trying to avoid reactions of "AAAAAGH! WHAT THE HECK?! AAAAAAGH! OH NOO!" ya know? And seeing a lot of italics or capital letters would have gotten really old really fast, so I hope none of you are too critical of the reactions of Ginny in this chapter. I tried to show that she's feeling surreal about the whole thing—almost in shock, but freaking out.

Anyway, please review!


	2. Finding

Disclaimer: I still don't own Harry Potter, and I'm still not making any money off of this. Believe me, if I COULD somehow make any money off of writing fanfiction, I would be doing that instead of posting it at So no one has any reason to sue me, okay?  
  
Author's Note: I'm going to say the same thing in this that I said in chapter three of Soulmates. I'm not going to change Ginny's name in this story. I know that it's official that her real name is Ginevra Molly Weasley, but I rather prefer Virginia Elizabeth, and since this is my fan_fiction_, I'm going to make her name Virginia. That's just how I feel, and flames are welcome if that's how you feel.  
  
--  
  
Ginny shifted under her red and gold Gryffindor sheets, trying to fall asleep, but to no avail. She had been trying to fall asleep for an hour now, and for some reason she just couldn't. She wanted to get a good night's sleep, as tomorrow was the first day of classes, but _something_ was keeping her up.  
  
She opened her brown eyes to the view of her bed's canopy, which was decorated with a complicated pattern of painted green vines. Ginny sat up in her bed and pushed aside the curtains quietly, making sure that all of her roommates were asleep. After seeing that they were, Ginny stood up and walked over to the only window in the room, where a light autumn breeze was gently blowing.  
  
Leaning against the cold stone, she looked out onto the beauty that was Hogwarts's campus, letting the cool breeze blow her hair slightly. The grass was swaying in the wind, giving Ginny the illusion of a dark green sea flowing hundreds of feet beneath her. She could see the lake to her far right, waves ebbing onto the shore. Ginny turned her head to her left, smiling to herself at the sight of Hagrid's cozy hut and his garden full of various vegetables and fruit.  
  
Beyond Hagrid's hut, Ginny could see the seemingly endless Forbidden Forest. The sight of it usually scared Ginny, as she had always heard horrible stories about the goings on inside of it, but this time it was different. The forest seemed to be calling out to her somehow; she couldn't take her eyes off of it. Ginny felt she had to get into there somehow... But how? There was no way she could sneak out of the castle and into the Forbidden Forest without being caught.  
  
Suddenly a rattling reached Ginny's ears, and she turned around to see if it was one of her roommates. "Did I wake one of you up?" she whispered tentatively. In response, she heard the rattling again, and this time she realized it was coming from her side of the room. Cursing herself for leaving her wand inside her trunk, Ginny slowly walked over to her bed to see what was making the noise, arms raised to defend herself if necessary. When she reached her bed, she heard the rattling again, but this time she knew where it was coming from. Her trunk was shaking, and a strange red light began to shine from within it! _That's the same red color of my amulet..._ she realized. _I knew I shouldn't have brought it to Hogwarts with me...  
_  
Ginny unlocked her trunk to take out the amulet, hoping that the sudden brightness in the room hadn't woken up anyone. Reaching into the chest, Ginny moved her school books aside to reveal the amulet, which she grabbed. Once in Ginny's hands, the amulet ceased to glow red and sat still in the dark. After making sure that her trunk was safely locked once more, Ginny walked back over to the window. Was her amulet trying to tell her something? Is that why she felt she had to go into the forest?  
  
As if in answer to her questions, Ginny's amulet began to vibrate and glisten again. _The amulet! I can use it to become a phoenix and see why it wants me to head into the Forbidden Forest..._ Ginny placed the necklace around her neck, earlier promises of never putting it on erased from her mind.  
  
Ginny squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the odd feelings of transformation to overcome her. When nothing happened, she remembered the paper that was attached to the chain. Her fingers searched the necklace to find the slip of paper, and when she found the object of her search, Ginny tore it off and read the words out loud. "Mutatio Phoenix." Immediately Ginny felt the strange sensations move down her body as she took the shape of a phoenix, but this time the transformation only took a few seconds. Once the transformation was complete, she took flight out the window, heading towards the Forbidden Forest.  
  
--  
  
Draco lay in his bed inside the seventh year Slytherin dorm room, impatiently waiting to hear the rhythmic snores of his fellow roommates that would confirm their heavy slumber. Once his roommates fell asleep, Draco would be able to do what he'd been waiting to do for three months.  
  
When Draco could finally hear his fellow Slytherins' snores, he quietly snuck out of his bed and moved next to his expensive, one-of-a-kind trunk. After unlocking the priceless trunk, he hunted for the silky surface of his invisibility cloak. He had received the invisibility cloak on his sixteenth birthday from his father, and it was his second most prized possession.  
  
Once his trunk was locked and safe once more, Draco moved in front of his mirror to check that his earring was securely in. Finding that it was, Draco stared into his reflection, relishing his devilishly handsome appearance. His curved lips were a pale pink color, and his eyes were shadowed in a satisfyingly sinister way. His eyebrows were a dark brown color, clashing with his silver-blonde hair. Moving his eyes back to the earring, Draco began to finger it gently. The earring had a green emerald set in it, and he had also received it on his sixteenth birthday, but not from Lucius. It had all started on that day...  
  
_Draco sat inside his room at the Malfoy Mansion, bored to death. It was August 22nd, his sixteenth birthday, and no one seemed to care, not even Draco. It was just another day, full of boredom inside the enormous mansion. With all the wealth of the Malfoys, people imagined that there were a million different things to do when boredom overtook the family, but it was exactly the opposite. Rarely did Lucius ever spend his money on fun things to do; instead, he spent most of it on items related to the Dark Arts, which Draco had had no interest in for years.  
  
The only exciting thing to do at the Malfoy Mansion was play Quidditch in the state-of-the-art stadium on the property. Lucius never used it himself, but he had had it built when Draco was born. Draco had always assumed it had been a gift to him, because he was the only one in the house who seemed to use it, but he eventually realized that Lucius only had it built so that he could brag about it to his friends. It definitely was something to be bragged about. It was one of the only Quidditch stadiums in the world that was built inside, and it was twice as big as the stadium at Hogwarts, probably due to the fact that there was no need to include stands around it. The ceiling was enchanted to look like the sky outside, just like the ceiling of the Great Hall. The ceiling also seemed endlessly high up; Draco had never been able to reach the very top. There was no floor built, only real grass that was kept watered every day by house elves so that even in winter it would stay fresh and green. It was the only thing about the Malfoy Mansion that Draco liked.  
  
After another few minutes of racking his brain for something to spend his time on, Draco just decided on playing Quidditch. It was the same ritual every day: wake up, eat breakfast (alone), try to think of anything to do besides Quidditch, then finally give up and play Quidditch. It wasn't that he didn't _enjoy _playing Quidditch, but playing it every day for the three months of his summer vacation grew somewhat tired. All of the practice made him get continuously better at Quidditch, however, though he was still unable to beat that blasted Potter.  
  
After walking across the large backyard to get to the Quidditch building, Draco opened the large wooden doors and stepped into the completely empty stadium. Leaning against the wall to his right was his Firebolt, the broom he had convinced his father to buy at the beginning of the summer. It was just his luck, however, because days after he'd received the Firebolt, a new broom replaced it as the best broom out there—the SonicSpeed. Draco only hoped that Potter hadn't somehow found a way to get his hands on one by the beginning of the school year.  
  
Draco decided that he would start off by practicing with the Snitch first, so he set it free, then mounted his broom and took off. Testing out a new strategy of his, Draco flew hundreds of feet up into the air and moved to the far end of the stadium, past the goals and close to the wall. This way, he could get an overall view of the entire stadium rather than just the section that he was facing, but he had to make sure his eyes could still catch a glint of gold at the other end of the stadium.  
  
After waiting patiently for about five minutes, concentrating on the entire pitch, his eyes caught a flash of something high above the goalposts that he was that he was closest to. Flying off in the direction where he'd seen the flash, Draco kept an eye out for the Snitch, but it had seemingly gotten away. He stopped at where he'd seen it and hovered there for another minute or so, watching for another glimpse of the speedy ball.  
  
Suddenly, his eyes flew to his right as the Snitch soared across his shoulder and ahead of him. Taking flight once more, Draco focused on the Snitch and raced after it, getting inches closer by the second. When the tip of his broom was just feet behind the Snitch, Draco reached his arm out and leaned forward, but his hand was still an inch or two from the ball. Before Draco could maneuver himself to grab it, the Snitch pulled off a 90- degree turn up into the sky, but the turn slowed it down, giving Draco the chance to reach up and capture it in his fist.  
  
With a triumphant smirk on his face, Draco took note that his strategy had worked, at least this time. He'd even set a personal record for fastest time to catch the Snitch—seven minutes. He'd be sure to use the same strategy again in a few minutes when he set the Snitch free again.  
  
As he began his descent back down to the grass of the pitch, Draco felt a strange tingling on his arm. Confused, Draco stopped and looked down, but saw nothing. Assuming it was enchanted wind from the ceiling, he continued to float downward. Again, Draco felt the tingling on his arm, but when he looked down this time, he saw silver scales emerging! Shocked, his hands loosened their grip on the broom and Snitch, causing Draco to slide sideways and the Snitch to fly free. When Draco tried to steady himself, he began to feel the tingling across his whole body, throwing his mind off of what he was doing and causing him to fall downward fifty feet onto the ground. When his body made contact with the earth, Draco fell unconscious, unknowing of the transformation that was befalling him while he was knocked out.  
  
Minutes later, Draco awoke quickly, lifting his throbbing head to rub it. However, his head was misshapen and much heavier than usual! Not surprised, Draco took a look at himself, revealing a large, silver dragon with large wings. His scales were a white-silver metallic color that covered every part of his body except for his underside. He had a long tail that had several white horns on top that were each half a foot long and sharp enough to stab any animal that dared upset him. Glancing downward, Draco saw his clawed feet and scale-less white belly. Lifting a front leg up to feel his face, Draco felt a long snout and two more horns protruding out of his forehead, though they were much shorter than his tail ones and more blunt. Altogether, Draco concluded that he was about eight meters long, not counting his tail.  
  
Smiling to himself, Draco decided to make the best of this dream. He often had these dreams where he was a dragon, each time being a different-sized, different-colored one. He had to say that this was his favorite so far. Lifting his wings and spreading them to their fullest extent, Draco lifted himself off the ground and flew around the pitch in circles, reveling in the feeling of flying with no broom. Opening his mouth wide, he breathed fire into the air, watching in satisfaction as a bit of fire burnt a section of brick high up on the wall. After a few more circles around the pitch, Draco found that his head was beginning to throb again and he was exhausted from lifting his heavy body off the ground. Landing back down onto the grass, Draco curled himself up and immediately fell asleep.  
  
After a few more minutes, Draco woke from his restful slumber, looking down at himself to make sure he was actually awake this time. Because the transformation only lasted a few minutes, he had gone back to human form while asleep. Once he was sure he was fully awake this time, Draco mounted his broom and flew into the air to search for the Snitch, but a large throb in his head reminded him that he had just taken a fall to the ground and was in no condition to continue playing Quidditch.  
  
As Draco led his broom back down to the grass, his eye caught a black spot on the wall. Wasn't that where he'd burned the wall in his dream? Was he still asleep? Pinching himself, Draco found that he was in fact awake, so why was the wall burnt? Had that not been a dream...?  
  
When Draco's head began to pound once more, he forgot his thoughts and landed down onto the ground near the door. Choosing to leave the Snitch to fly around for a while until he once again felt like catching it, Draco leaned his broom back against the wall and left the stadium, heading back towards his mansion.  
  
After making his way through the labyrinth that was the hallways of the Malfoy Mansion, Draco walked into his room, planning to lie down until his head stopped hurting. As he walked over to his bed, however, he took notice of a thin paperback book sitting on the corner of his desk that hadn't been there earlier. Confused, Draco reached for it and looked at the cover. "Draco Lucius Malfoy," he read out loud. "Why is my name on this? Did Lucius put this in here?" he wondered. When he turned the book over to look at the back cover, a small slip of paper fell out onto the floor. Picking it up, he found that it was wrapped around something else, but before he could open it, he heard his door open. Quickly slipping the mysterious object into his pocket, Draco spun around to see that it was Lucius standing in his doorway.  
  
"I assumed the Firebolt would be good enough to satisfy your mother as a birthday gift, but she insists that I give you another present today. Be grateful. Here," he spat, throwing an invisibility cloak at Draco. He glared, adding, "You know what will happen to you if you dare use it to sneak around any of my _private_ property."  
  
Draco lunged for the cloak with wide eyes, needing to touch it to confirm its realness. Doing so, however, caused him to drop the strange book onto the floor.  
  
Eyeing the book, Lucius swiftly walked towards it and picked it up a half second before Draco realized what he was doing. "What is this?" Lucius asked with a raised eyebrow.  
  
Realizing that it must not have been from Lucius after all, Draco wanted to get it back from him. "Who cares? It's quite obviously mine, and I would _appreciate _it if you would give it back to me," Draco replied coolly, not wanting his father to read whatever might be in the book.  
  
"_1001 Types of Muggle Carpets_?" Lucius read. "What sort of garbage is this?" Shocked, Draco leaned over to see if the cover had somehow changed, but he still read his name on it. What was Lucius trying to pull? "I know exactly what to do with this," Lucius declared, tossing the book into the fire.  
  
"No!" Draco yelled, watching as the book immediately burnt into ashes. Now he'd never know what was in the mysterious book! Turning back to Lucius with a glare, Draco was about to let out his anger at his excuse for a father when Lucius slapped him across the face.  
  
"Maybe you'll think twice next time you want to buy something muggle related," Lucius scolded, leaving the room with his cloak swishing behind him before Draco could utter another word.  
  
Glaring at the door that Lucius had just slammed closed, Draco rubbed his sore cheek with his hand. Taking another look at his new invisibility cloak, he tossed it onto his bed carelessly and stared into his fireplace in hopes that a bit of paper had somehow remained intact.  
  
Then, remembering the slip of paper that might hold a clue to the book, Draco reached into his pocket and pulled it out. He unrolled the paper, revealing a single tiny earring with an emerald set in it. Taking out his dragon earring that he wore in his right ear, Draco replaced it with the emerald earring and looked down at the paper he'd unrolled. On it were the words "Mutatio Draco."  
  
"Is this some sort of spell?" Draco wondered aloud, choosing not to say it in case it was. "Wait... These are Latin words... This strange spell must turn the person into a dragon... Wait! That's what happened to me earlier, but I didn't say a spell! That must not have been a dream! I really became a dragon!!! So what's going on...?"  
_  
Draco had never discovered what was in the book, but he eventually learned that the spell did in fact transform him into the silver dragon, but only if he said the words while wearing the earring. That earring had grown to be his most prized possession. Though he had no idea what exactly was happening whenever he used it, Draco loved the power he felt as a dragon. His dragon instincts always told him that he could overpower any creature if it bothered him, and he loved the fact that this was mostly true. As long as Draco didn't let himself get caught in dragon form, he figured he could continue to transform any time he felt like doing so.  
  
This fear of being caught was the reason that Draco hadn't transformed for the rest of that summer. If a house elf or, even worse, a family member wandered into the Quidditch stadium while Draco was in transformation, then he feared what would happen to him. Lucius would probably use Veritaserum on him to find out what was going on, and then he would take the earring from Draco, possibly to use for himself. Draco didn't want that to happen.  
  
So he tried out the spell on the first night of his sixth year at Hogwarts. Using his precious invisibility cloak, Draco had snuck out into the Forbidden Forest, the only place he could think of where he might be able to transform. He had remembered the night only five years earlier when he'd been terrified of the forest, but now he was five years older and braver. Plus, he figured he could turn into a dragon at any moment and kill anything that attacked him.  
  
As if the animals of the forest could sense the dragon inside of Draco, they had all stayed clear of him as he wandered through the night. Carrying his invisibility cloak in one hand, Draco had searched the forest for an area large enough where he could test his theories.  
  
At one point, Draco had hit a very dense portion of trees that almost deterred him from continuing. However, after a minute or two of walking through the thick wood, Draco had stepped out into a clearing that was almost as big as his Quidditch Stadium at home. Draco spent almost every night after that in the clearing, just relaxing in dragon form.  
  
Tonight, Draco was enthusiastic about the transformation, as he hadn't undergone it all summer for the same reason he hadn't the summer before. Quickly pulling his invisibility cloak over his head, Draco once again checked the mirror to make sure he was completely invisible. Draco silently and swiftly left the room and began his walk to the clearing.  
  
As soon as Draco had made it into the clearing, he tossed the cloak onto a mound of moss under a large oak tree and spoke the words, "Mutatio Draco." In seconds his body had taken the shape of a dragon, and Draco stretched out his wings and flew around the clearing as high up as he dared to. As Draco had respect for living plants and animals, he avoided breathing fire at the trees or creatures in the forest. Instead, he'd blow fire straight up into the air, watching as it first grew larger from the oxygen, but then put itself out in the way that only dragon fire would do if it had no target.  
  
Once Draco had grown tired of flying low to the ground and craning his neck to puff out fire into the sky, Draco settled back onto the ground and made himself comfortable. Closing his eyes, Draco was about to doze off when he heard a surprised screech that sounded like a kneazle dying. Opening one of his eyes halfway to see what had made the noise, Draco was shocked at the sight before him.  
  
--  
  
Flying through the trees at top speed, Ginny relied on her amulet to lead her and her phoenix instincts to keep from running into a tree. She could only hope that if anyone happened to see her flying into the forest, that they'd assume it was Fawkes. Or, if they didn't know of Fawkes's existence, that they'd tell a teacher, who would assure them that it had just been Fawkes.  
  
When Ginny arrived at a dense mass of trees, she slowed down to avoid hitting one. Finally, she breathed fresh air once more when she found her way to a large clearing, but just as she breathed in the clean air, she let it back out in a large squawk. Her phoenix instincts kicked in, commanding her thoughts. _There's a dragon here! What is a dragon doing in the forest?! There would be no sense in attacking it... I must fly away before it notices me!_  
  
Ginny's common sense overpowered her instincts once more, however, and she concluded that there couldn't be a dragon living in the forest without being detected by Dumbledore. Also, her amulet had begun to glow and she noticed that the "dragon" was wearing an emerald earring in his ear. This was no dragon; it was the other mystimorph!  
  
_What is a phoenix doing in the Forbidden Forest?_ Draco wondered. It didn't seem to want to attack him. Should he just leave it be and let it be on its way? It wasn't moving... He watched as the phoenix looked him over, then landed on a branch in a tree near him.  
  
"Are you the other mystimorph?" the phoenix asked excitedly, flapping its wings expectantly.  
  
"W-what?" Draco answered, stunned at hearing a human voice come out of the phoenix's beak, but even more stunned at the fact that he had just spoken. As he had never tried to before, he'd had no idea that he could speak in dragon form.  
  
"I said, are you the other mystimorph?" the phoenix repeated, somewhat impatiently.  
  
"What's a mystimorph?" Draco asked, still astounded by the feel of words on his dragon tongue. "I have no idea what you're talking about, nor do I know whom you are."  
  
The boy's confusion and rudeness somewhat discouraged Ginny, but she was sure that this just had to be the other mystimorph. Her amulet had brought her here! Keeping her cool, Ginny replied, "Well, as I don't know who you are either, I don't think I shall tell you who_ I_ am just yet. But I know you must know what a mystimorph is! You _are _one!"  
  
Draco narrowed his eyes at the phoenix. She seemed to know a lot more about the situation than he did, as she kept calling him a mystimorph or some such word. How much did she know? Draco decided to not blow this person off and simply walk away, as his Malfoy instincts told him to do, because he wanted her to tell him everything she knew. "I truly don't know what a mystimorph is, though I don't like being called a liar." Unbeknownst to Draco, Ginny blushed inwardly at his last comment, realizing that she basically _had_ been calling this stranger a liar. "Would you be so kind as to explain to me what exactly you're talking about?"  
  
"Well... Didn't you get a book with your name on it that explained everything to you? Inside of the book was supposed to be the transformation jewelry, and as I see yours in your ear there," Ginny pointed a wing at Draco's ear, "you _must_ have received the book!"  
  
Remembering the mysterious book that his father had burnt in the fire, Draco tilted his head at the girl. How much could he tell her? "Yes, I received the book and found the jewelry, but due to certain circumstances, the book was destroyed before I was able to read it."  
  
"Oh..." Ginny muttered, taken aback. "Well, then I'll tell you what the book said." Ginny began to quote word-for-word everything that she had read inside the strange book. Ginny had read and reread the book after she'd first received it; she had found herself reading it tens of times over, possibly over a hundred, so she eventually had the entire thing memorized. As she finished reciting the book's words, Ginny added, "So here I am. My amulet led me here to meet you, and we're both going to help in the Second War."  
  
Draco sat on the ground in silence for a few minutes, processing the many bits of information with which he had just been provided. What she had just told him explained everything—the earring and its spell, his first transformation, why Lucius had seen a different book than himself, why he'd never heard of his condition before... So this phoenix and he were the only ones of his kind this century?  
  
Definitely the hardest part of her words to digest, however, was the prophecy. He was meant to play a large part in the Second War? Not only was this a shocking piece of information that had been revealed to him, but how could_ he_ help defeat Voldemort? His family was on Voldemort's side! Was he truly meant to fight against his family? Sure, Draco hated his father and everything he stood for, but he had been raised by this man, and fighting against him seemed unimaginable. He'd always disagreed with Lucius's inclusion in the Dark Arts, but he'd always figured he just wouldn't join him and accept the consequences. He'd never planned on joining the Light Side and fighting _against _Lucius...  
  
After finally getting it all absorbed, Draco spoke quietly and deadly, "Speak for yourself."  
  
"What?" Ginny asked. Obviously phoenixes didn't have the most acute hearing in the animal kingdom.  
  
Speaking a bit more loudly, Draco repeated, "Speak for yourself. I don't plan to take part in any war."  
  
Feeling braver now that she'd found the other mystimorph, Ginny reassured him. "Look, I know it sounds a bit scary, but it's obviously our future because it's been _prophesized_, and I think we might be able to get through all of this together if—" she was cut off in the middle of her heartfelt speech.  
  
"Listen, I don't want to hear anything you have to say. I'm not going to let some dumb prophecy rule my future and I'm definitely not going to fight in any war with the likes of you. Now, I would _appreciate_ it if you would leave now," Draco finished, trying to keep from completely lashing out at this innocent, naïve girl who unluckily was in the line of fire as he had grown terribly angry.  
  
Hurt and finding herself much more dispirited than when she had first reached the clearing, Ginny exclaimed, "But I don't even know who you are!"  
  
Giving Ginny a poisonous glare, Draco commanded in a calm, low voice. "Go...away."  
  
Frightened at his sudden maliciousness, Ginny took flight without another word, leaving the boy to his peace. Something about that glare had flipped a switch in her mind, however... It seemed so familiar...  
  
Shaking her head, Ginny decided to just be happy that she'd found the other mystimorph so quickly, and she started to think about the clues that she'd been given as to whom the other person was. _He's touchy, and not at all keen to the idea of taking part in the Second War, that's for sure. And I know he's got to be at least my age or older...  
_  
Shooting out the forest, Ginny flew as low to the ground as possible, hoping that this would seem less obtrusive. When she had found the window to her room, she flew in silently and landed on her bed, whispering the amulet's spell and tucking the necklace back into her pajamas. She would fly to the clearing again the next night, as she was sure she would find the other mystimorph there again. For now, she just needed to sleep.  
  
In the clearing of the forest, Draco continued to glare at the branch where the phoenix had been sitting just seconds earlier. "Mutatio Draco," he spoke, immediately turning human once more. He had too much on his mind to relax anymore that night. Harshly grabbing at his invisibility cloak, Draco made his way back through the forest, into the castle, and into his room. Lying in bed, Draco found that he couldn't sleep. Instead he lay awake for hours, contemplating everything he had learned that night and thinking about the mysterious girl and whom she could be...  
  
--  
  
Author's Note: Sorry it's taken a month to get this up! I started it yesterday, and I've got to say I'm as proud of this chapter as I am of the first. Do you guys like it? I really hope you did, because I hold this story close to my heart, for some reason. Be gentle, 'cause it's my baby.  
  
Oh, and I want to add something that I forgot to include in the book that Ginny found. The powers of the mystimorph are born only in pure-blood families, which explains why Ginny and Draco are mystimorphs (since they are some of the only pure-bloods left).  
  
By the way, does anyone else think it's strange that Rowling uses standard measurements in her book? For example, I remember she always mentions inches and feet when Harry's playing Quidditch, and the wands are measured in inches. But Britain uses the metric system! Isn't that weird?  
  
Now, thank you's time!:  
  
HinoarashiBlazeflight – Thanks so much! I hope you enjoyed this chapter too.  
  
Jenny – Thank you. But what do you mean "I'm just weird like that, as you know"? I don't know you... ;-)  
  
Vanyaria Darkshadow – Many, many thanks for your review! I really value your opinion, and the fact that you said my chapter was good makes me feel all tingly inside. =) Also, thanks for the notes, because I took them to heart and fixed a few of them.  
  
Georgentosser – Thank you! Here's the other chapter, just like you asked for. Hopefully the third one won't take as long to get up. =)  
  
Now I must ask you to **review**. Yes, you! The person reading this! What do you want me to do to get you to review? I'll do anything, short of begging. Do you want me to do a silly dance? does a silly dance, adding shouts of "Look at me, I'm a chimpanzee!" Was that good enough? Will you review now? ... What? ... No, I won't do that. Sorry, not gonna do it! Definitely won't do it. ... Fine, I'll do it! "I AM MAGICAL MONKEY MAN, COME TO EAT YOUR BOOGERS!!!" ... Are you happy now? Good. Now, I did by my part by writing this chapter and obeying your crazy whims, so do your part and **REVIEW!!!!!!**


	3. Meeting

Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me, except for the idea of mystimorphs, I guess.  
  
Author's Note: Yay, I got chapter three written before the school year started! I know that might not seem like a lot to some of you, but to ME it is.  
  
Shout outs to my friends Erica, Sierra, and Jennifer for being so supportive of this fic, and a SPECIAL shout out and thank you to EmmaRiddle over at Schnoogle. Her review **really **helped me get off of my lazy behind and hurry to get this written. If it weren't for her, I probably wouldn't have gotten this up before school, and who KNOWS when it would've gotten up then? So be appreciative of her!  
  
--  
  
Ginny awoke the next morning, groggy and with a pain in her chest. Shifting to her side, she found that the dull throb was being caused by the amulet being pushed into her breast as she slept face down.  
  
Pulling the amulet out of her pajamas, Ginny took a good look at it. The chain was a bright silver color that shone against her pale skin. Attached to the chain was the jewel, set in a small plate that was the same silver color as the chain links. The jewel wasn't glowing like it had the night before, but it still gleamed brilliantly with a rich red color. She wondered if the stone was ruby or not, considering she'd seen pictures of rubies before that weren't nearly as beautiful as her stone.  
  
Deciding that she would wear the necklace to school that day, she buried it back inside the folds of her pajamas and sat up in bed. From the position of the sun and her roommates, Ginny concluded that she still had another good thirty minutes to sleep in. However, she was fully awake by now, so she quietly got out of bed and got her things, moving towards the bathroom to get ready.  
  
Fifteen minutes later, Ginny was prepared for her first day of school. She was clothed in her Hogwarts robes and she wore her hair limp around her body, taking care that her necklace was hidden from view by numerous strands of her auburn hair. When she was satisfied with her appearance, Ginny walked downstairs into the common room, which was completely empty. She smiled and shook her head, knowing that all of the students were still used to their summer sleeping schedules.  
  
Making her way through the hallways, Ginny closed her eyes and leaned her head backwards. She loved listening to the silence of the halls when she was alone in them; the only sounds were her soft breathing and the thumps of her tennis shoes against the stone floor. As Ginny was usually surrounded by clumps of other fifth year Gryffindors during the day, she rarely got moments completely to herself. She thrived on such times, as it was tiring to always be part of a sea of people.  
  
When the sight of the Great Hall's main doors emerged into her view, she slowed her pace, still savoring the empty halls. Her moment was ruined, however, as Malfoy turned into the hall slightly in front of her. Ginny rolled her eyes at his back, knowing full well that he'd walked right in front of her on purpose. Not being one to start a fight, she stopped in her tracks in order to let Malfoy continue his trek into the Great Hall.  
  
Noticing that Ginny's steps had grown silent, Draco paused and turned his head around to smirk at her. "Well, if it isn't the littlest Weasley!" he said, feigning shock.  
  
Once more, Ginny rolled her eyes at the boy in front of her. "Do our conversations always have to start off with those words, Malfoy? You've got to start being more creative."  
  
Draco twisted his entire body so that he was now entirely facing the Weasley. "I wouldn't exactly call our run-ins 'conversations.' Besides, you think your opinion matters to me at all?" he replied, lifting his eyebrow to emphasize his point.  
  
Ginny smirked. "If you had any taste, you'd care what I thought," she answered.  
  
"I don't think you're one to talk about taste, wearing the clothes that you do and hanging around those people you call friends."  
  
"Oh, wow, that really hurts, Malfoy." Ginny had found, over the past couple of years, that sarcasm was the best way to deal with Malfoy's insults. He was so predictable; he always made fun of her monetary status, hand-me-down possessions, or the fact that she was friends with the Dream Team. It was almost pathetic that he never had new material. She usually would just grow fed up with his persistence and leave in a huff, satisfying his thirst for causing her frustration. This time, though, Ginny had too much on her mind to let Malfoy get to her.  
  
"Tired of the old insults you're used to hearing, Weasley?"  
  
"You're quite the quick one."  
  
Draco glared down at the cool-headed girl. The events the night before had caused him to lay awake all night, so this morning he was tired and angry at everything--the girl, the prophecy, his father... When he'd seen the Weaslette that morning, he was looking forward to venting his frustrations on her. The fact that she was not falling so easily into his trap infuriated him even further, and he decided to try a new approach. "Well, I do have brains _and _good looks, which no one can say for you. No wonder Potter never took interest in you. You're not exactly a beauty, Weasley."  
  
Ginny crossed her arms across her small chest, shifting slightly from one foot to the other. This was new. This was unpredictable. This was irritating.  
  
When Draco noticed the uneasiness in Ginny's face, he smirked and knew he'd struck a chord. He knew that what he was saying was untrue, as even he had to admit that the youngest Weasley's features were sickeningly endearing. But she seemed to be insecure about them from her reaction, and so he continued. "How'd you ever get those old boyfriends of yours? Are you _that _easy? Though I doubt you have much in that department, either."  
  
Ginny gave Draco a deadly glare, enraged that he could read into her thoughts so deeply. He was mirroring the exact thoughts that she wondered so often to herself--how _had _she gotten those boyfriends? Ginny remained silent once more, her voice caught in her throat.  
  
"Not even going to defend yourself, Weasley? I guess it'd be useless to try, anyway." Draco lifted a hand to Ginny's rapidly reddening cheeks, lightly running his fingers across her freckles. "You should at least do something about these freckles."  
  
Ginny raised her own hand to harshly slap away Malfoy's, finally finding her voice. "I care about your opinions about as much as you care about mine," she choked out, noticing that her statement sounded completely unbelievable.  
  
Malfoy just smirked, not even caring that she'd dared to slap him. He was satisfied now, he realized as he stared into her blazing eyes. A second later, the area in front of him was unoccupied as Ginny pushed her way past him into the Great Hall.  
  
Draco watched as the Weasley walked into the Great Hall, then made his way in himself. There were very few students seated inside, and unluckily for him, one of them was Pansy Parkinson.  
  
He moaned to himself as he saw the hungry look on her face, directed at him. Goodness, the girl actually had a lot to offer, both mentally and physically, but she was a pure leech. She hung onto his every word and had been openly desperate for him ever since their break up the year before. He couldn't understand how he kept himself from just hexing her into oblivion.  
  
"Draco!" Pansy squealed, jumping up out of her seat and placing her hands in Draco's, who didn't grip them back. "I missed you so much this summer!"  
  
"You saw me on the train yesterday, Pansy."  
  
"I know, but that was only for a few minutes! Didn't you miss me this summer too?"  
  
"I don't _miss_ people. I tolerate them when they're around," he replied truthfully, removing her hands from his and seating himself at the Slytherin table as more students began to fill up the room.  
  
"Oh, Draco!" Pansy giggled, pretending to be amused by what he'd said, even though she was really angered by the comment. She didn't know why she just didn't give up on the boy, but then she remembered that he was rich, handsome, and born into a powerful Death Eater family. She'd put up with him if she could eventually win him back.  
  
Ignoring Pansy as she took a seat next to him, Draco stared at his fellow Slytherins and fell into deep thought. How many of them truly _were_ on Voldemort's side? It was known that there had never been an evil Hogwarts graduate who hadn't been sorted into Slytherin. Many decided to turn that statement into a fact that all Slytherins were to become Death Eaters when they grew older, but this was by no means true. All Slytherins kept a front of being on Voldemort's side, but Draco knew that some of them were being dishonest, just as he was.  
  
The news the night before had still shocked him. Even though he wasn't on Voldemort's side, Draco had never considered fighting with the _other _side. The idea of war in general didn't appeal to him as it is, because Draco wasn't one to willingly risk his life for others. But, if he had to take part in the Second War, he'd much rather it be on the Light Side. He'd realized this the night before while contemplating things. He'd also decided that he'd rather fight with Dumbledore than see Voldemort win, but he couldn't imagine a situation where that would matter.  
  
"Draco, what's wrong?" Pansy asked, faking genuine worry. She was angry that Draco wasn't paying attention to her, as being ignored by a Malfoy didn't look too good to others. "You haven't listened to a word I've said, and you're staring off into space!"  
  
Draco continued to ignore his whiny ex-girlfriend, shaking himself out of his daze and recognizing the Weasley girl across the hall from him. He glared as he saw her laugh at something Potter had said. Right now, Draco was wishing the same unhappiness on her that he felt himself, and he was furious that she wasn't still depressed because of his insults earlier. He must be losing his touch.  
  
--  
  
Harry, Ron, and Hermione made their way to the Gryffindor table a few minutes after Ginny had arrived, no doubt there because Hermione had woken the two up early. They sat down around Ginny, who had a glazed look on her face as she stared off ahead of her. Having had time to cool down after her encounter with Malfoy, Ginny was now wrapped up in her own, more important thoughts.  
  
Harry, sitting across from Ginny, raised his eyebrow. "I know I'm cute, Ginny, but you don't have to stare."  
  
"What?" Ginny replied instinctively, then his words registered in her mind and she laughed, along with Ron and Hermione. "Sorry, Harry."  
  
"What's up with you, Ginny?" Ron asked, seeing the look on Ginny's face. Her laugh was genuine, but the smile on her face looked slightly forced, and her eyes remained distant.  
  
"Yeah, you _have _been a bit...off ever since you're birthday," Harry agreed.  
  
"What do you mean by _that_?" Ginny snapped. She didn't know why she snapped at them, or why she felt so offended by her friends' words. What they were saying was true--she _had _been acting differently since her birthday. She often found herself in deep thought about mystimorphs and prophecies, and today she had even more on her mind, what with her encounter with the other mystimorph and all. But big things were happening to her, so she was allowed to be "a bit off"! Especially when Malfoy seemed to have finally realized how to best upset her...  
  
"We're just worried about you," Hermione answered, startled at Ginny's reaction. "You haven't been talking to us as much as you used to, and sometimes you'll just stare off for minutes at a time with a glassy look on your face."  
  
At Hermione's shocked and hurt expression, Ginny's disposition changed. She shouldn't have lashed out at them like that. After all, they were just concerned for her. "It's okay, Hermione, really. I'm fine!" Ginny put on a smile to prove that she was happy, promising herself that she'd start acting more normal around them so they wouldn't suspect anything.  
  
The three looked unconvinced, but decided to drop the subject for now.  
  
--  
  
Author's Note: Okay, okay, I know this chapter is pretty short, but c'mon, you know you've seen much shorter ones! I had initially intended to make this chapter much longer, but frankly I'm sick of trying to make these chapters long simply to have long chapters, so... Besides, if I'd kept on going, then the next update wouldn't be for MONTHS. This way, there's a better chance of an update within the next month or so. =D  
  
Time for thank you's!:  
  
Hippie1212 - Thanks! I hope this update was soon enough for you... X-P  
  
mell8 - Thank you! I tried to update soon...  
  
Mystik Spiral - LOL, thanks. You rock! Loved your review.  
  
Crunchy Quill - Thank you so much; you don't know how much I truly value your opinion. I can only hope my fic ends up half as good as yours!  
  
Taisy098 - Aw, you rock. It's always nice when authors turn around and read their reviewers' work. The best way of thanking them! "i read loads of ginny/draco 'ships and i've never read any like yours before." Thanks so much!!! I really appreciate that, and I'm glad my fic is turning out just as creative and original as I wanted it to be. =D  
  
AnimagisInTraining - Haha, thanks! You're cool, too. I hope you liked this chapter! 


	4. Discovering

Disclaimer: Watch the swinging necklace... Watch it swing...back and forth...back and forth...back and forth... You're getting sleeeeeepyyyyy... I don't own Harry Potter... I don't own Harry Potter... I don't own Harry Potter... Now, when I snap my fingers, you'll think I don't own Harry Potter! (snaps) ... What? ... Nope, I don't own Harry Potter at all! Heh heh hehhh...

Author's Note: I got this up quickly, didn't I?! (sigh) But I had it written about a week ago--just two days after chapter three! The only reason I didn't post it till now is 'cause of that thing the site was planning to do, when no one could review, so I wanted to wait until all that was done with. I didn't want people to read my fic and not review for the sheer fact that they couldn't...

Enjoy!!!!!

* * *

It had been easy for Ginny to avoid the Dream Team all day, since they had no classes with her. The rest of the day crawled on slowly for her, most likely a result of her anticipation of that night. She was fixed on going to the clearing again in hopes that the dragon boy would be there. She was slightly scared, considering the way their conversation had ended the night before, but she remained set on her decision.

In her dorm that night, Ginny finished the last of her mountain of homework, signing her name with a flourish at the top of the potions essay. Relieved, Ginny placed the remnants of her things inside her ratty cotton school bag, and, checking to make sure that the amulet was hidden amongst her nightgown, she lay down in bed, already half-asleep. "Now," she thought as she pulled the warm sheets up to her neck, all thoughts of the dragon erased from her brain in her tiredness, "I can finally get some peaceful sleep..."

_Ginny was alone. She was sitting on a cold stone floor, surrounded by nothing but some decaying rat skeletons. Shivering, Ginny hugged herself tightly and wondered where she was. What was this place? The room was large and open, but void of any windows. The only opening out of the room was the tall, wooden door that stood high to her left. She stood up and reached for the doorknob, but it wouldn't obey the flicks of Ginny's wrists, staying mobile._

_She could feel tears well up in her eyes as long-lost memories of the Chamber of Secrets flooded her. That's what this place reminded her of--the Chamber. One hand instinctively flew up to her neck to grasp her necklace, but she felt no bump under her robes. Images of the Chamber flew from her mind as she frantically searched for the amulet. Where was it?..._

_Once more, she looked around the room, trying to figure out what was going on. Was this a dungeon? Why was she here? What had she done?_

_Almost as if it could understand her thoughts, the door clicked and swung open, revealing an empty hallway. Ginny suspiciously moved closer to the door, squinting to get a better view of the dark passageway. She slowly made her way down the hall, darting this way and that to look around. Suddenly she paused as she caught the sound of footsteps behind her._

_Ginny spun around, fruitlessly reaching in her pocket for her wand that wasn't there. Standing in front of her was a tall man whose face was in a dream-like blur. Who was this man? She didn't know the answer to that question, but she could already tell that he was dangerous. Her heart began to pump adrenaline throughout her body, and beads of sweat formed on her forehead as the strange man leaned over her menacingly, his wand inches from her face..._

Ginny woke up with a gasp, clutching her bed covers. The sheets were sticking to her bare legs and arms with sweat, and her heart was still pumping as quickly as it had been a minute earlier. Slowly, her mind registered that she was in her bed at Hogwarts, and no longer inside the creepy stone hallway. "It was just a dream..." Ginny sighed, loosening her grip on the sheets.

As if to confirm that the whole thing had been a dream, Ginny reached for her necklace, smiling when she felt it there. She took it out of its hiding place to look down at the shining stone, however, it wasn't shimmering at all like it normally was. Right now, the amulet was completely dull, looking more like a solid red rock than its usual glassy jewel. Why was it so dull?

Suddenly, Ginny remembered that she had planned to head to the clearing again that night. Her sweat returned as she worried that it was too late to search for the boy; she couldn't go through another day until she'd talked to the other mystimorph again. Craning her head, Ginny looked through her bed hangings and sighed in relief when the dorm room's clock read only 10:48 PM.

Shaking any extra drowsiness away, Ginny moved quickly to the window and whispered the transformation spell. She flew straight down to the ground, then pulled upwards and skimmed the grass as she soared across the landscape. She raced to the forest, but she slowed down once she'd reached it. Making her way through the branches slightly more expertly than before, she finally broke through the woods and into the clearing. Her bright eyes met the slit eyes of the dragon, and as she landed on a low branch, she let a breath out that she didn't even know she'd been holding.

_What is _she_ doing here?_ Draco thought, fuming at the fact that the phoenix dared come back. "I thought I told you to stay away," Draco accused, glaring at the girl who had disturbed his peaceful sanctuary.

"Actually, you said, 'Go away,' not, 'Stay away.'" Immediately Ginny regretted her words; she should've known better than to respond in such a way to this hotheaded boy.

Draco answered with a burst of flames in her direction, which disintegrated just as they reached Ginny.

"Ow!" Ginny screeched, flailing her wings about. "That hurt! How come your flame hurt me when I'm a _fire_ bird?!"

"Not too bright, are we?" Draco spoke condescendingly. Ginny was about to bite back with a smart reply, but decided that it might result in another fire burst. "Dragon fire is different from normal fire, so not even phoenixes are protected from it."

"Oh," Ginny muttered, embarrassed. "So, have you thought about what we talked about last night?" she asked quickly, changing the subject.

Draco was really beginning to hate this girl. She couldn't seem to understand that he wasn't interested in joining her in her little war, and she just wouldn't leave him alone! He didn't want to actually burn her with his fire, though; Draco may have liked to threaten and mess with others, but he would never seriously hurt someone unless absolutely needed.

However, he didn't know enough about this girl yet to cause her mental anguish from insults, so he decided he would have to coax her into changing back into human form. The best way to do this would be to pretend to give in to her, he concluded in his mind. "Yes, I have."

Ginny would have bitten her lip if she'd had one. She prompted him to go further, hoping that he wouldn't lash out at her again. "And?"

"You're right," Draco acted, knowing that she would fall for it. She may have had a bit of a mouth on her, but he noted that she was somewhat naïve.

"I am?" Ginny repeated, shocked. "About what, exactly?" She wanted to make sure that he wasn't just messing with her.

Draco resisted the temptation to roll his eyes. Was this girl always so stupid? "You're right about everything. The Second War, Voldemort, us, everything. If we've been prophesized to fight in the war, then it must be our destiny."

Ginny let out a sigh, relieved. The boy must have been thinking about it all day, like she had when she first found out, and he'd come to the same conclusion she had--there was nothing they could do. It was prophecy. Ginny's eyes shone happily at the dragon, wondering whom he could be and what had caused this change in attitude from just minutes earlier. "I'm glad you changed your mind."

"So am I," Draco agreed. He cursed himself inwardly at the corniness of that statement, thinking that the conversation had suddenly started sounding like some bad romance novel.

"So what are we going to do? Are we going to start planning fo-" Ginny began, but she was cut off by Draco.

"Don't you think we should find out each other's identities first? I would very much like to know whom you are, and I'm sure you feel the same way."

"Oh! Right!" Ginny exclaimed, wondering how she could've gotten so ahead of herself. "So... Who should go first?"

"You," Draco answered immediately. He planned to never reveal himself to the girl, and he had to admit he was curious as to whom exactly she was.

"O-okay," Ginny stuttered, suddenly nervous as she fluttered off the branch and onto the ground. _What if he hates me after this? What if this person somehow knows about how I opened the Chamber five years ago, and they're scared of me? What if they can't stand to look into my hideous face?_

"Well?" Draco interrupted impatiently. "Go ahead and transform!"

"Okay, okay!" Ginny closed her eyes tightly as if this would make it easier on her if the boy hated her true identity. "Mutatio Phoenix," she whispered. A second later, she heard a slight gasp followed by a deep growl. She opened her eyes hesitantly, greeted by an enraged dragon, smoke rings blowing out of its nose.

_Not her..._ Draco thought, furious. _Not that little brat! Not..._ "Weasley..." He spoke the last word aloud in an accusing tone.

_What did he just call me? _Only one person called her by that name, in that way that made it sound like she was the scum of the Earth. "MALFOY?!" Ginny gasped, eyes widening in shock.

Draco tried to smirk coolly at her, but he found this was impossible as a dragon. Quietly he whispered, "Mutatio Draco." When he was back to his normal human self, Draco responded, "The one and only." He smirked at the Weasley girl, watching, amused, as her expressions changed rapidly.

Ginny was shocked at first, but then she was filled with anguish, knowing that she was almost on the brink of tears. Why him? _Anyone_ else. She could've handled _anyone_ else! Her anguish quickly grew to anger, at both Malfoy and her horrible luck. Nothing _ever_ seemed to go right for her! Malfoy was such a prat, and she knew she couldn't stand to be in the same _room_ with him for long, let alone fight a war with him!

_But wait..._ a little voice in her head spoke up. _Don't you remember what he was saying earlier? He agreed to fight with you! Doesn't that mean he doesn't support Voldemort? And he was actually being civil to you, almost nice! Maybe Malfoy's not as bad as you thought he was... _Ginny chose her words slowly as she asked her next question, "Di-did you mean what you said a few minutes ago? About fighting with me in the war?"

Was it actually possible for one girl to be so annoying? "Heck, no. Even when I didn't know it was you, I still didn't like you. That's very sad, even for you, Weasley. You've got a horrible body _and_ a horrible personality. Besides, I'd never fight on the _Light_ Side," he added to ensure that she still thought he was the little future Death Eater he always pretended to be.

Ginny closed her eyes, trying to ignore his comments. She wouldn't let him get to her. Not again. But the truth of his words cut into her like a knife, because it was obvious he _had_ hated her before. She even fell for his stupid act, which he must've done just to get her hopes up. But this was Malfoy! He hated everyone! Why did it matter what he thought? Yet she couldn't convince herself that he was wrong about her.

She drew in a shaky breath, composing herself and trying to think of a clever, scathing remark. "You're one to talk, Malfoy! You don't even have any friends!" Okay, so it wasn't very scathing or clever, but it was true.

Draco's voice lowered to a deadly tone. "You don't know anything about me, Weasley. I'm not even going to argue with you, because you're probably too dumb to understand." He was angered by the truth in her words--the only things he had were lackies and suck-ups. He had no interest in making friends with his fellow Slytherins, though, because they all were aspiring Death Eaters. But that's why he'd make it in this world, he thought; friends did nothing but bring you down, and trusting people only led to treachery. That's what he told himself, at least.

Ginny took note of Malfoy's poor excuse for an insult. She must've touched on a nerve, so she continued. "No one would even _want_ to be your friend! And for good reason, because you'd probably be a traitor and turn on them somehow."

Draco snapped at her words, covering the short distance between the two of them to roughly push her against a tree trunk. It wasn't the part about no one wanting to be his friend that made him blow up, but the part about being a traitor. He _hated_ that word. Ever since he had secretly decided he didn't want to become a Death Eater, he'd had nightmares of Lucius finding out and maliciously whispering words of traitors and disgraces under his breath to Draco, right before he'd utter those two deadly words...

"Let's get one thing straight, Weasley..." Draco was squeezing her shoulders hard without realizing it, and he loosened his grip a bit as he read the look of physical pain on her face. "You...know...NOTHING...about me." He couldn't help his temper when somehow reminded of his vicious, hateful father who'd strike Draco down without another thought. Lucius, in fact, was the reason Draco was against causing others physical pain.

Ginny looked into Draco's silver eyes, reading his emotions. He was infuriated--that much was obvious. But she could also see fear in his eyes. Fear? What could Malfoy be scared of? There was also pain, she noticed, suddenly feeling guilty for what she'd said. She wouldn't have said it if she'd known it would actually hurt Malfoy like that; she had just been hoping to get him angry, which she had achieved at the same time.

Tears threatened to fall from her eyes as she continued to stare into Malfoy's emotion-filled orbs. He glared into hers, growing even more furious as he saw the pity in them. A single tear escaped one of Ginny's eyes, crawling down her cheek and leaving a trail of sorrow behind. Seeing this, Draco pushed himself off of her and walked backwards a few steps.

Free from Malfoy's grasp, Ginny fleed the clearing without another glance back. More tears fell down her cheeks as she tried to make sense of her thoughts. She was mad at Malfoy, of course, but she was also feeling pity for the hurt she'd seen in his eyes. Also mixed in was guilt for being the one who had _caused_ the pain to float to the surface.

_Curse Malfoy! Without any regrets, he makes me feel so bad about myself, and when I finally am able to do the same to him, he makes me feel _guilty_ about it!_

Suddenly, Ginny was back on the Hogwarts grounds, free from the trees of the Forbidden Forest. Without realizing it, she had made her way through the woods and back to the campus. Wiping the tears from her face, she looked upwards to find the window to her dorm. Not thinking, she whispered the transformation spell and flew into the window, her mind still a clutter.

A widening pair of blue eyes watched this scene silently from a window, blinking and then disappearing from view.

* * *

Author's Note: Yay, my first cliffhanger ever! I know how much you guys LOVE cliffhangers, so I decided to try one on for size. =)

This chapter was a **bit **longer than the last one, so I hope you all are satisfied. The next update shouldn't be -too- long from now, as I've gotten a lot of chapter five written. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, for, after another read through it by myself, it seems horribly written, as I am reading some of Nathaniel Hawthorne's work at the moment. If only I could ever create such fine writing...

Time for the customary thank you's!:

alecatq - Eee, thanks so much! Hope you liked the (for me) quick update, and hope school turned out alright for you!

Wytil - Thanks!!! You rock! As you can see, your predictions were slightly correct. Draco **was **identified, but so was Ginny... And we'll just have to see what takes place next...

The Fate In Purple - Thanks so much, for both of your reviews!!!! Yeah, I understand the works-in-progress thing, but I happen to like it 'cause I get to look forward to upates. Was this update soon enough for you?

Terin Kail - Hahahaha, thanks! I love you too! Hee hee, gotta love the D/G action, baby! I don't think I've actually read a fic where Draco turns into a dragon. If I have, it probably **was **a long time ago, so I just don't remember. What ones do you recommend? By the way, thanks for your eight reviews. ;-) Crazy ff-dot-net and its mistakes. I'd delete the extras, but that would delete your original too, so I guess they'll all just have to stay there forever and always...

fieryred20 - Thank you!!! I hope you're happy with the update, 'cause this was still **really **good for me. I might get another chapter up soon, but after that I have to read about 2,000 pages of summer reading books in four weeks (I have an extension... It's a long story), so that might delay later updates.

And now, I shall beg for reviews, because I forgot to do that in the last chapter! So, **REVIEW!!!!!!** Or, um... I'll kidnap your little sister or whatever... I dunno... I guess I'm not good at threats. So let's try hypnosis again!

Watch the necklace... You're feeling sleepy... Yoooou wiiiill reviiiiiew.... Yoooou wiiiill reviiiiiew.... Yoooou wiiiill reviiiiiew.... Now, when I snap my fingers, you'll review!

(SNAP SNAP SNAP SNAP SNAP!!!!!)

(falls asleep)


	5. Taking

Disclaimer: I have no claim on the Harry Potter series whatsoever; we broke things off a long time ago. It was a hard break-up, but it was mutual. We just seemed to be moving in different directions. Well...similar directions, I guess you could say... He came out of the closet.

Author's Note: Okay, I am just ROCKIN' with the updates now! I thought that updates would be every couple of MONTHS once school had started, but I'm updating more often than I did over the **summer**! Hopefully that's not 'cause these chapters suck...

I drew some art that goes along with this fic, in case you're interested in seeing it. I didn't post a link to it here, since ff-dot-net would just erase it, so I put it in my profile. Check it out, if you want to.

* * *

Lucius pored over the many papers on his mahogany desk, trying hard to concentrate, but failing. He had been under a lot of stress lately because the Wizarding World was at a crucial point in the Second War, and the Death Eaters were feeling the brunt of this. They were devising a plan on the offensive, but every day that the mystimorphs weren't found, Voldemort grew more terrifying. The longer it took them to find the two mystimorphs, the higher the chance that the Light Side would beat them to it. Voldemort knew quite well the prophecy, despite the attempts of the Ministry to hide it from him, and it was obvious that the war would never come to an end unless the mystimorphs were found and the prophecy fulfilled. He was bent on finding them before Dumbledore and those other fools did, and he made sure his Death Eaters knew this and paid for it when they returned with no results.

The click of heels in his hallway caught Lucius's attention, and he smoothly muttered a spell to clear the papers off of his desk. Lucius stood up and moved forward to meet whomever his visitor was, one hand loosely placed on his wand just in case. When the door swung open to reveal its opener, Lucius smirked and removed his hand from the wand, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Miss Parkinson," Lucius drawled. "To what do I owe the pleasure, especially at so late an hour?" He was irritated that the girl had interrupted him, but she was nevertheless easier to handle than the papers of mostly useless mystimorph information that the Death Eaters had compiled.

"Well, sir..." Pansy shifted her weight between her feet, uneasy in Lucius's presence. She took pride in the fact that she was mostly always composed, but in the company of such a commanding and daunting figure as Lucius Malfoy, she couldn't help but grow uncomfortable. Trying to calm herself, Pansy swallowed and started over, this time more sure of herself. "Sir, I think I have some information about the Light Side. I come to you because I know you are powerful and high in the Death Eater ranks."

"Yes?" Lucius asked, raising his eyebrow quizzically. He was almost sure that anything Miss Parkinson had to say was pointless, but he might as well hear it out, considering she attended Dumbledore's school. The ego stroking part was nice, too.

"Well, I was looking out my window earlier tonight because I couldn't sleep. I was just sort of staring, but then something caught my eyes, and it was a phoenix! There was a phoenix flying low into the Forbidden Forest! So I thought that Dumbledore might be trying to get the phoenixes on his side in the War!"

Suddenly Lucius raised his right arm and slammed the back of his hand against Pansy's cheek. Pansy's head flew to her left with the force of the blow, but then she turned around to face Lucius again with wide, blue eyes that held a mix of defiance and surrender.

"Foolish girl! What you saw was most likely Dumbledore's ridiculous pet, Fawkes. Don't waste my time." His lips formed a sick smile, satisfied by the pain he'd so obviously just caused the girl. A red mark was burning on her cheek, and her hand was gently placed on it as if to confirm its existence and relieve the pain.

"I-" Pansy began, trying to figure out how to say what else she'd seen without sounding like she was talking back to Lucius. She decided to just come out and say it directly. "I saw Ginny Weasley transform into a phoenix! _She_ was the phoenix I saw!"

When Lucius had heard Pansy begin to speak in lieu of leaving in shame like he'd expected, he had raised his arm to strike once more, but paused it in the air when she'd finished her sentence. "What?" he said, narrowing his eyes accusedly.

"I kept a look out to see if I could find out anything more, and a few minutes later Ginny Weasley walked out of the Forbidden Forest, and the next second she was a phoenix flying up into her room! She was wearing some sort of large jewel around her neck, too. I think Dumbledore might be using some secret, ancient magic that can turn people into phoenixes!" Pansy blathered, voicing her wild theory.

Lucius smiled slightly with this news, ecstasy filling his entire body to the point where couldn't keep a smile completely hidden. Mistaking the small smile as another slap soon to be, Pansy covered her face with her hands in self defense. Lucius laughed cruelly, amused by the girl's actions. "Be gone with you, Miss Parkinson. Your information is very valuable, and I will make sure that you are highly rewarded for it."

Pansy removed her arms from her face, a smile shining under them. "Thank you, sir! You're too gracious!" Goodness, she hated speaking in such a way to people, but it was the only way to ensure that she ended up a highly ranked Death Eater when she grew older.

"Quite so. Now _be gone._"

Pansy hurried out of the room, running to the living room and its fireplace, flooing herself back to the Slytherin common room. It was very handy that the Slytherin fireplace was in the Floo network, and of course it had been of Lucius's doing. He had his ways when it came to all sorts of things, and he used his connections to make sure that he could easily travel to the Slytherin common room secretly. Dumbledore himself didn't even know about this connection, or if he did, he just turned a blind eye to it.

Back in his study, Lucius was extremely joyous. Everything Miss Parkinson had said fit the pieces--Ginny was the correct age, she had the transformation jewelry, and she had turned into a mystical creature. He was sure that this meant she was one of the mystimorphs, and she could lead him to the other. Miss Parkinson obviously had no idea of the discovery she had made, as the Death Eaters had chosen not to tell their offspring of the mystimorphs in case that fool Dumbledore were to use a Veritaserum on the students.

Having this information would surely mean that Lucius would be moved up to the highest Death Eater ranks, even higher than that cursed Pettigrew. Finding the mystimorphs would guarantee the win in the Second War, as had been prophesized, and capturing the mystimorphs would be quite easy; Ginny Weasley, as he remembered from five years ago, was quite the pushover.

Lucius sat back down at his desk, trying to decide what to do. Should he go straight to Voldemort and tell him of the knowledge that he possessed? No, then Voldemort might send another to capture the Weasley girl, therefore less credit would be given to himself. Though, if Lucius went and took the girl on his own, things could more easily go wrong, and Voldemort might grow angry that Lucius didn't reveal the information as soon as he'd found it out. Just telling him could set Voldemort off as well, however, if he thought that Lucius should have acted firstly so that the Light Side couldn't beat them to it.

Finally, Lucius decided on the latter. Even if Voldemort were displeased with Lucius's choice of action, then he would still have the mystimorph in his clutches, so he would surely have to forget about anything Lucius had done beforehand.

Now, how should he go about doing this? He couldn't very well just walk into Hogwarts and take the Weasley, but did he have a choice? It had to get done immediately, and this didn't exactly give him a while to come up with an ingenious, foolproof plan, no matter how brilliant he was. Choosing to go ahead with a short, simple plan, Lucius grabbed his wand and apparated out of the study.

The next second, Lucius was standing in a dimly lit room, full of numerous old books, a ratty couch with stuffing coming out of the sides, and a desk, at which sat a short, balding man in a dark cloak. The man turned around in his chair at the resounding crack that Lucius's coming had created and asked, "Malfoy, why have you come at this hour?"

Lucius held back a sneer at the man before him. He didn't like Thomas Fisk at all, but he feigned companionship with the fellow Death Eater due to his employment on the Floo Regulation Panel. "I have a favor to ask you, Fisk."

"Oh?" Fisk questioned, placing the quill that he held in his hand onto his lips. "And that would be?"

"I need you to connect the Gryffindor common room's fireplace to the Floo network, just for tonight."

"Really? Do you now? And what would your reason for this be?"

Lucius glared, annoyed by all of the questions that were characteristic of Fisk. It was obvious that neither trusted the other, but this was common amongst Death Eater "friendships." "I don't really think my motives are of any interest to you, Fisk."

"It's not as if I owe you any more favors, Malfoy. The fact that I privately keep the Slytherin fireplace connected to the Floo network is enough."

Smirking, Lucius replied, "It's not about what one of us owes the other; it's about the fact that you should simply comply with my demands because of my rank with the Dark Lord."

"You had better not be wanting this so you can go kill Potter in his sleep. That would be absolutely ludicrous, even for you, besides the fact that it's been thought of before and there are many reasons why it wouldn't work."

"Of _course_ that's not what I plan to do, Fisk! Do you take me for a fool?! No, I have other plans, and it doesn't involve murdering anyone. Now..." Lucius pulled out his wand, pointing it at Fisk. "Do as I say and_ connect the fireplace to the network_." Lucius's eyes were full of fire, angry that the man was putting up such a fight and accusing Lucius of such ridiculous motives.

Fisk smirked at Lucius, undaunted by the wand pointed at his chest. "As you wish, Malfoy, but keep me out of it; if you go down, I don't want to be pulled down with you."

Lucius pocketed his wand, smiling cruelly. "Of course," he answered, knowing that Fisk would regret his request once he found out what Lucius was up to.

"Give me a minute," Fisk told him, quickly apparating out of the room with a crack, then reappearing in the room a minute later. "It's done. Whatever business you have going to the Gryffindor common room, I suggest that you get it done immediately, because I'll disconnect the fireplace again in one hour."

"Good," Lucius said, then disappeared from the room.

Back at Malfoy Manor, Lucius went straight to his bedroom and to the place where he kept his invisibility cloak stored. He had acquired two of these precious items at one point, but his pathetic wife threatened him if he didn't give one to their son as a _birthday_ present. Reaching into his immense closet, his fingers felt the cool folds of the invisibility cloak beneath them, and Lucius pulled his arm back triumphantly.

After pulling the entirety of the cloak over his head, Lucius then headed straight towards one of the many fireplaces in the mansion, this one conveniently located inside his bedroom. He grabbed a fistful of Floo powder, pocketed it to use for getting back to the manor, then grabbed another fistful. Tossing the glittery contents of his hand into the fire, Lucius watched as the now glowing green fire reflected in his silvery grey eyes, and he gracefully stepped into the flames and ordered, "Gryffindor common room!"

A minute later, Lucius found himself located inside the disgustingly decorated Gryffindor common room, which was empty except for a few loose papers lying around on various tables and chairs. He was glad that it was the beginning of the year, for if students had been hanging around the common room doing homework, it would have made things much more difficult for himself.

Turning his head to the dorm room doors, Lucius concluded that the stairs led to the girls' dorms, just as they always had in the Slytherin common room that he had occupied so many years before. Smirking to himself, he whispered the incantation for a simple hover charm and was lifted a few feet in the air, just as it had always happened back in his school days. Using his wand to guide him, Lucius found his way to the top of the stairs and searched the signs on the doors for one that read "Sixth Years."

Once he'd found the object of his search, he quietly turned the doorknob and pushed the door open halfway so that he could slip his body through the crack. Now he would have to check all of the beds to find the Weasley girl's--how annoying. Floating himself over to each individual bed, he cracked open the hangings to pore over the sleeping girls inside. No, this one was a blonde, and this one seemed to be brown-haired and tan. At the third bed and final bed, Lucius couldn't help but sneer at the red-headed girl sprawled out across the mattress; her pajamas were obvious hand-me-downs, with patches and rips apparent on the green cloth.

The condescending sneer transformed into a malicious grin as he pointed his wand at Weasley's chest, whispering, "Stupefy." Except for the flash from the wand, nothing appeared to have happened to Ginny, but Lucius knew that this was because all he had done was ensure that she stayed unconscious while he took her to Malfoy Manor. Next, he muttered, "Mobilicorpus," and before him Ginny's body raised high into the air. As she rose, his eyes caught the glittering of a red jewel on her chest, and he immediately moved a hand under the cloth of the invisibility cloak so that he could rip the precious transformation amulet off her neck and place it inside a pocket in his robes.

Lucius then guided the red-haired girl so that she was hovering inches in front of him. He grabbed the edge of his cloak in one hand and threw it over the sleeping girl, on the off chance that someone would wake up and notice that the Weasley was floating around in midair. Again Lucius used his wand to guide himself and his prize out of the room, closing the door behind them and flying back down the staircase.

Once at the bottom of the steps, Lucius whispered the reverse spell to the hover charm and felt his body lower back down to the ground. At the feel of the floor beneath his feet, Lucius walked back over to the fireplace and grabbed the Floo powder in his pocket, moving his arm around the cloak to cast the powder into the fire. When the flames had turned an emerald green, he moved himself, along with the Weasley girl, into the fire and spoke clearly, "Malfoy Manor."

* * *

Author's Note: Hmm, I had intended to have more to this chapter, but this seems like as good a place as any to stop, don't you think? It's -already- longer than chapter three was...

About the Floo network things...

I know that Sirius was able to get into the Gryffindor fireplace to communicate with Harry in books four and five, and I assume that the same Floo powder is used for the talking-heads communication and the transporting (since they never mention two different Floo powder pots sitting on a mantle)... So this is my theory, whether or not Rowling has even thought about this: I think that there are two different Floo networks--the communication one and the transporting one, kinda like how the Internet and the telephone both run on the same telephone line. Therefore, in the books all of the Hogwarts fireplaces are connected to only the communication network and not the transportation network (which would explain things such as why Sirius didn't just floo himself into the Gryffindor dorms to kill Scabbers in PoA), and maybe it's set up so that no one can make a "call" to somewhere else using a house's fireplace, but instead just **receive** "calls." But then parents would "call" their kids... (shrugs)

I'm sure none of you read that paragraph, LOL.

Thank you's time!:

The Fate in Purple - Yay! I think I shall dub thee my number one fan here at good ol' fanfiction-dot-net. It's awesome that you read chapter four on your birthday!!! Hee hee, yes, I guess that was sneaky, but I'm just a sneaky li'l Slytherin... Okay, well, I'd probably be a Ravenclaw, but whatever. Sneaky Slytherin, Sneaky Ravenclaw... Same thing. But that's so nice of you to say that my story should be spread amongst the masses (in so many words)! It's so nice of you to spread the word for me. =D (glomps)

fieryred20 - Eee, thanks! Hope you liked chapter five!

alecatq - Thank you! Were you surprised by whom it was? Didja smack yourself in the head afterwards? Or did you think, "Oh, how anticlimactic. Of COURSE it was Pansy"? Either way, hope you enjoyed the chapter!

MoosiesRule - Thanks so much! I loved all your sweet, sweet reviews! And I'm glad you liked my diction in the dream sequence. =D It's always nice when someone (especially an awesome fellow author) points out specific little things that they liked about your work. Welp, here's the update!

Novalee Sims - Ahh, my long-lost, fellow alien twin! I'm glad you think it's coming together all right... It wouldn't have been too pretty if you'd said, "Well, this story just seems to be falling apart before my eyes. It would be in your best judgment to delete this story before you sink to a point where you can never come back to the surface." (shakes head) Nope, that wouldn't have been a fun review to read. Hope the cliffhanger didn't stress you out too much, as I updated it almost immediately after you reviewed (four wonderful times =D). And goodness gracious, I hope that the Harry Potter books never say Pansy has brown eyes or something! Sorry if I led you astray with the "blue eyes" part, but those are the color eyes I imagine her to have. If she has different eyes, I'm so, so, SO sorry!!!! Oh, and about Pansy being stereotypical... I know, but I'm trying to add a little depth to her character. Is it working???

And -now- it's time to beg for reviews, yay! You KNOW you just would _not _be able to bear it if I never finished this story, and I can't very well continue if I don't have inspiration in your **reviews**, can I??? So **_REVIEW!!!!!_**


	6. Missing

Disclaimer: I don't know NOTHIN' about no Harry Potter! On the night of August the 18th, I was up late doing homework, I **promise**! I'm telling you, I wasn't even anywhere near the night club that night! No, I have -never- seen that object before in my LIFE! It's not mine! I don't own Harry Potter, okay?!

Author's Note: I...am...DONE! Ha, no, not with the story... I'm done with East of Eden!!! Gosh, that book's long, especially when you ALREADY have no free time 'cause of school work. So for those of you who noticed that I'd been updating every Tuesday, that's why I was one week late with this upload.

Anyway, enjoy!

--

The next morning, Draco sat at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall, reading an article in the _Daily Prophet _about next year's Quidditch World Cup. He rolled his eyes at the fact that, so early on in the season, people were already placing bets as to who would take part in the Cup.

Draco had been there for almost ten minutes when Pansy came strutting into the Hall, lightly sitting herself down next to him. She absentmindedly touched a finger to her bruised cheek that she had been covering up with make-up that morning, which had caused her to be late to breakfast. When Draco didn't do or say anything to acknowledge the new presence of his ex-girlfriend, Pansy cleared her throat, but to no avail. Finally she decided to just be straightforward with him, saying, "I hate your father, Draco."

At this, Draco placed his copy of the _Daily Prophet_ onto the table and turned to the girl next to him, raising an eyebrow. "So do I, but what does that have to do with anything?" It was common knowledge in Slytherin that Draco hated his father, but this meant nothing, as many Slytherins felt the same way towards their parents and still aspired to be Death Eaters in the future.

Pansy's eyes shone with pride as she thought about the events of the night before. "I visited him last night, and--"

Draco's hand involuntarily flew to Pansy's shoulder, gripping it hard. "You _what?!_"

Startled by his reaction, Pansy swallowed and said uncertainly, "I went to Malfoy Manor last night, but--"

"_Why_ did you do this without my consent?! Not that I would have given you permission of ANY sort to see my father..." Pansy noticed the same sort of flaming anger in Draco's eyes that she had seen the night before in Lucius's.

"Just because he's your father doesn't mean he's off limits to visits from me, Draco!" Pansy felt herself get fired up also, roughly shrugging Draco's hand off her shoulder. Her voice lowered to a quiet whisper as she spoke the next sentence, just in case someone other than a Slytherin might overhear. "He's a powerful Death Eater, and if I ever have valuable information for the Dark Side, then as a supporter of the Dark Lord, I am allowed to bring the information to Lucius's attention!"

Draco sneered at the girl; not only was she stupid enough to say these things out loud in the Great Hall--whispering or not--but she was also dumb enough to visit his father by herself, and even tell Draco about it. He knew what probably took place last night--a prideful child, glowing at the hopes of pleasing Lucius, then brought down to his knees by the cold strike of his father. This was why he'd learned early in life to avoid being alone in a room with Lucius at all costs.

"And what did he think of this information of yours?" he smirked. "Did it _please_ him?"

Pansy frowned slightly at Draco's tone. "Well... I made the mistake of making it sound as if my information was inaccurate and invaluable, so Lucius slapped me," she spoke, once more touching the cheek that still throbbed.

"Good for him," Draco sneered, leaning back in his chair and reaching to pick up the _Daily Prophet_ once more. He may have hated his father, but he couldn't help but be glad that Lucius had brought Pansy down a few pegs, even if it had to be through violence.

"Don't you care what the information was?" Pansy enquired, energized by a need to please the son of the powerful Lucius Malfoy in order to have a high standing with the family.

Draco began to search through the newspaper to find the article he'd been reading before he was interrupted by Parkinson. "No, I rather don't care to know."

Pansy pouted, "Well, I'm going to tell you anyway." She paused to watch for a reaction from Draco, but found none. She continued, "I saw Ginny Weasley transform into a phoenix last night, and I thi--"

"_What?_" Draco asked, forgetting the quidditch article for the second time that morning. He cursed himself for reacting in such a way, as it could give away the fact that he knew anything about the Weasley.

"I saw the Weasley girl become a _phoenix_ last night! I think Dumbledore might be using an ancient magic so he can turn his ranks into phoenixes! When I told Lucius all of this, he thanked me and told me I'd be highly rewarded," she finished, grinning triumphantly.

Draco stared at the girl, his jaw hanging open slightly. Pansy mistook this expression as wonder and admiration at the valuable information she held, when in reality it was shock and fear at what would happen because of this girl's stupidity. He was sure the Death Eaters must know about the mystimorphs, so Lucius had just been led straight to one of them. Draco still didn't know what exactly the mystimorphs were to do in the war, but he was sure that it would _not_ be good if the Death Eaters had a hold on Ginny...

"Aren't you so proud of me, Draco?" Pansy gushed.

Draco ignored Pansy, standing up from his chair. _I can't let the Dark Side have Ginny... I can't let them win this war..._ he decided inwardly.

"Draco?" Pansy looked up into his face, which was deep in thought and contemplation. "Draco, aren't you happy for me? Or are you _jealous_ that I'm regarded so highly in your father's eyes now?"

Once more ignoring the girl, Draco fled from the Hall, turning around to give Pansy a death glare when she attempted to follow him. The first thing he had to do was make sure Ginny was safe right now; if he kept an eye on her, then he might be able to prevent something bad happening to her by means of Lucius. However, if something had _already_ happened...

This was all Parkinson's fault. If it weren't for her nosiness and want to please others, then Draco wouldn't be forced to watch over that Weasley girl. Why him?...

Suddenly, a flash of red turning the corner caught Draco's eyes, and he began to sigh with relief that Lucius had failed to do anything to Weasley just yet. However, as the redhead fully got around the corner, Draco sucked in his breath in fury and annoyance--it was the _male_ Weasley. In fact, it was the male Weasley _and_ Potter. Draco stood for a second, trying to decide between using this chance to let out his frustrations on the pair or leaving them alone in order to get to Ginny more quickly. He chose the former.

"Well, well, well," he drawled. "If it isn't ickle Weasley and his _lover_." Draco smirked at the embarrassed and angry reddening hue of Weasley's face.

"Oh, just go away, Malfoy," Harry said, rolling his eyes. "We've got more important things to do right now than trade insults with you," he added, hurrying down the hall with Ron, only to be blocked by Draco.

"Oh? And what could be more important than that?" Draco asked innocently.

"Finding my little sister, that's what!" Ron shouted, drawing out his wand and pointing it at Draco. "And if you don't get out of our way, I'll hex you so badly your parents won't be able to recognize you!" Harry put a hand on Ron's wand, looking at him in a way that said, "Calm down, Ron."

In shock, Draco stepped aside, letting the two continue rushing down the hall. Ron was smirking in triumph, for he thought his threat was what surprised Draco and caused him to move, but in reality, Draco had moved aside in shock at Ron's first statement.

"Shit..." Draco thought, putting a hand on his forehead in defeat. He could've bet his entire fortune that he knew where Ginny was, and this was no comfort to him.

--

Lucius gazed through the cold iron bars of the wooden door that was the barrier between the Weasley girl and himself. She was still asleep... This was good, for he planned to contact Voldemort at that moment to inform him of his accomplishments of just fifteen minutes earlier.

For the past quarter of an hour, Lucius had been attempting all sorts of spells on the amulet in order to find a clue as to the whereabouts of the other transformation jewel, but his trials were fruitless. He even tried the spells using the girl's own wand, which he had confiscated from her nightgown before throwing her into the dungeon of Malfoy Manor. He now held both her necklace and wand in his hands, sneering at the old piece of wood that splintered his fingertips. How anyone, peasant or not, could tolerate such an dilapidated wand, Lucius knew not.

Lucius pocketed these objects, retrieving his own wand while doing so. After another quick peek into the cell to make sure the girl was secure, Lucius spoke the words, "Morsmordre" and the Dark Mark appeared out of thin air, a bright green brilliance in the dark hall. Voldemort, by some strange power, could sense whenever and wherever this spell was cast, and now that he was at full strength, the Death Eaters would use it to call him to them in the way that he would use their marks to call them to him.

Seconds later, a crack reverberated in the stone hallway, waking up Ginny. Dazed and confused, she slowly opened her eyes to the view before her. Fear registered in her mind as she realized where she was--this was the room from her nightmare! She was about to push herself up off the cold ground when she heard voices from the hallway, and she shivered as she pressed her body closer to the floor. She quieted her quick breathing in order to listen intently to the conversation taking place outside of her room.

"Lucius, why have you called me here? Have you a good reason?" a voice hissed.

Ginny shrunk back further into the shadows at the recognition of the pair in the hallway. One must be Lucius Malfoy, she realized as she heard the other speak, though she had no idea what was going on, why he was here, or what _here_ was. The other man... Ginny could recognize that voice anywhere, for it had haunted her dreams for years now. No matter how distorted it had become over the last fifty years, Ginny could recognize the voice of Tom Riddle quite easily, or the one who _used_ to be Tom Riddle.

"My Lord, I would not have called you if that weren't the case. Here, look into the dungeon cell, and you will see the purpose of my calling," Lucius urged eagerly, waving a hand towards the cell door.

Voldemort looked at Lucius, reading his expression and deciding that if he didn't deem whatever was in this dungeon worthy of his attention, then he would simply use the Cruciatus Curse on Lucius to put him in his rightful place. Moving his snake-like face inbetween the iron bars to see what the cell held in its possession, Voldemort caught sight of a quivering girl. Removing his head from the window, he once more turned to Lucius. "So, Lucius. You have kidnapped little Ginny Weasley. What of it to me?"

Eyes bright with pride, Lucius reached into his robe pocket and pulled out Weasley's amulet, holding it out for Voldemort to get a good look at. Snatching it from Lucius's hand, Voldemort's red eyes widened in glee.

"Yes," Lucius said as if he could read Voldemort's thoughts, "that is the transformation jewelry that was in her possession--the one that can transform her into a phoenix. It seems that our little Ginny Weasley is one the mystimorphs."

As Voldemort turned the necklace over and over again in his hands, examining it with a child-like fascination, he smiled cruelly, a smile which looked extremely out of place on his reptilian features. "My, my. How...fortunate that this girl, the very same one who opened the Chamber of Secrets five years ago, is one of the mystimorphs that I have been searching for for so long." He turned his head upwards to meet Lucius eye-to-eye, saying, "You have pleased me greatly with this, Lucius. But..." He raised a bony white finger into the air. "How do you expect to find the other?" His eyes bore into Lucius's, daring him to lie.

"I have a plan for that, my Lord. Do not worry," Lucius reassured falsely. He truly had not come up with a plan just yet, as he had not been given a sufficient amount of time, but saying so might help pacify Voldemort.

"Do you, now?" Voldemort mocked, knowing that Lucius had no plan whatsoever from the look in his eyes. Only Voldemort was powerful enough to sense Lucius's true thoughts, the ones that he could keep so well hidden from others. Deciding to overlook the lie, Voldemort warned Lucius, "If you don't have the other accompanying the Weasley in this same cell by sundown tonight, I will make sure you pay dearly. Just the one isn't enough, therefore I expect you to do this bidding."

"I will not let you down, my Lord," Lucius spoke, bowing low to the ground as Voldemort dropped the amulet at his feet and moved to the cell door, once more poking his head between the bars.

"Little Weasley..." Voldemort whispered in a falsely soothing tone. "How good it is to see you again. Yes, I remember you quite well. You have a past to be proud of, Virginia, and I see great things in your future, also. Yes, it is _good_ to see you again..." he trailed off, disapparating seconds later.

Ginny waited until she'd heard the sound of her amulet being retrieved from the ground by Lucius, then she breathed a slight sigh of relief when she heard the crack of his disapparation.

So now she had an idea of where she was and what was going on. This must be a dungeon cell located in the Malfoys' house, and she'd been kidnapped by Lucius? Biting her lip, she held back tears for her fear of Voldemort, who had been just meters from her moments ago. This was worse than in the Chamber of Secrets, because this was THE darkest wizard of their time. She gulped as her mind wandered off to what he and Lucius were going to do with her; it was obvious that they wanted her because of her powers. She was completely defenseless, also, as Lucius had taken her wand _and_ her amulet.

They still didn't know that Draco was the other mystimorph... This was good, Ginny decided, because she didn't want to be stuck in a dungeon with that prat just yet; she would rather be alone than with _him_. He was the only one who knew about Ginny's powers, though, so he was the only one who could save her in time. But it was apparent that Draco was a supporter of the Dark Side, so what hope could she have that _he_ would save her?

She turned her thoughts back to the matter at hand, finally standing up and straightening herself, trying to keep her eyes off of the tiny skeletons littered across the floor. She moved to the door, twisting the knob carelessly to see if it was unlocked, but of course it wasn't. If her dream was some sort of prediction, then any second now the door would open up before her and let her free. She waited for one minute... Two minutes... Five minutes...

After she waited for what she thought had been about ten minutes, she finally gave up hope and collapsed back onto the floor. Of course her dream wouldn't come true, because dreams always are bizarre and unrealistic. True, it had been a sort of prediction that she'd end up here, but it hadn't seemed to be just a _scene_ from her future.

She remembered how her amulet had been completely dull when she woke up from the dream, and she wondered if the dream had somehow been a warning from the jewel.

This amulet was more powerful than she'd thought it was. It couldn't be good that it was in the hands of the enemy...

--

Author's Note: Hmm... For some reason, I'm not especially proud of this chapter. What'd you guys think?

Thank you's!:

The Fate in Purple - Yes, you are my number one fan at fanfiction-dot-net. Woo-hoo! All you gotta do to live up to it is to make sure you keep reading the story. :-D Ha, thanks, I didn't even consider that to be a cliffie when I wrote it. I just thought, "I'll just leave off here." Hah, I shoulda realized it. Sorry 'bout that! Hee hee, I like your idea... Maybe I'll follow it, maybe I won't... I mean, I did almost have the entire story planned out, middle and end, but the other day I decided that I'd completely switch the middle around (for the better or not? We'll see...). Maybe my new plan includes your idea... ;-)

Emily - Yes, yes, that is pretty unsettling. But a great plot device for me, heh, 'cause I wouldn't have wanted to discuss weeks of planning on Lucius's part... And hmm, will Draco save her? Maybe he will, maybe he won't... I guess you'll just have to see.

From The End - Wow, thanks!!! I couldn't help but smile at your review. "You should be proud of yourself." If I weren't before, I definitely am now! Thanks so much!!! By the way, love the name. :-D

fieryred20 - :-D Thanks! Hope you enjoyed chapter six!

MemoriesOfYou - Yeah, I can feel ya on the "being busy" thing. Like I said in my first author's note, I've been BUSY lately. Here's the update, hope you like it!

Novalee Sims - Hahah, yeah, Pansy has a brain. She's still sorta been brainwashed from her parents, though, thriving on pleasing powerful people like Lucius and Draco, as you saw from this chapter. I bet you didn't like her in this chapter, actually... Sorry! X-P And yes, Lucius is a jerk! (I hate doing that, too, 'cause I don't like to have one-dimensional characters. Ah well.) Yeah, I know Pansy has dark hair and hazel eyes in the movie (found that out from the site; thanks for that!). But hey, look at it this way: Harry Potter has blue eyes in the movie, and we ALL know that ain't right. Hahah, yeah, the kidnapping was a brave thing to do, wasn't it? But Lucius found out some BIG information, so he just had to do something about it! Hahha, sorry, not gonna erase it. Sorry it ticked you off, though!

alecatq - Whoa, you actually read my bit about the Floo networks! Yeah, I think that all seems to fit to me, sorta. Thanks for the review, hope you liked this chapter!

And now...

Me: Hello, my name is Depth of Soul, and I have a problem.

Everyone in the circle: Hi, Depth of Soul!!!

Moderator: Hello, Depth of Soul! Now, you're doing great, because the first step is **admitting **you have a problem. Now, what exactly -is- your problem?

Me: (sigh) I'm addicted to reviews.

Everyone in the circle: (gasp)

Moderator: Okay, so how do you plan to go about getting _rid_ of this problem?

Me: What?! Get RID of it?! I will do no such thing!

Moderator and everyone in the circle: Then what are you doing here?????

Me: I'M HERE TO BEG FOR REVIEWS!!!!!!

**_REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!_** (Or the money I spent on that 12-step program will have been a waste.)


	7. Searching

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Harry Potter...right NOW, at least. I'm saving up to buy Harry Potter! :-D At the rate I'm earning and saving my money, I should be able to buy the rights to the entire franchise in...9,496,082,542,623 years! Yay!!!

Author's Note: Gaah, sorry I wasn't on time with this update! See, now that I started to get into the main plot of the story, I didn't want to just write a chapter without knowing EXACTLY what was going to happen in the rest of the story... So I didn't wanna get this chapter written until I had the **entire** plot planned out, starting with chapter seven. And, being that I have very little free time because of school and also that the best time for me to brainstorm is while drifting off to sleep, time which I only have about two seconds of each night (because I'm always dead tired)... I didn't get the story outlined for a while.

Please forgive me! I hope you all like this chapter.

OH! Before I forget... **I've started a C2 community!!! **:-D Yup, you guessed it... It archives Draco/Ginny fanfiction. :-) It's called DracoGinny Goodness (the darn slash gets erased between their names), and so far I've got nine stories archived. I add good, completed Draco/Ginny stories (no one-shots), and if any of you want to subscribe to the community (so that you're e-mailed when new stories get added), just go to my profile, click on "C2 Communities (1)" and then "DracoGinny Goodness," then click "Subscribe." (breathes in) Woo, okay. Oh, and if you want to become a staff member (being a staff member doesn't have any obligations; it just means that you can add stories to the list whenever you want), just e-mail me at crypticdreams(underscore)whitestar(at)yahoo-dot-com (not that exact address, though... I just typed it like that so it would show up...). My e-mail address is in my profile, too.

--

Draco stood next to the Slytherin common room fireplace, a handful of Floo powder nestled in his palm. What exactly should he do? As soon as he had heard the news of Ginny's disappearance from Ron, Draco had fled to the common room to floo straight to his mansion and save her, but now he paused in front of the fireplace to formulate a plan. He was glad that the common room was empty, every greedy Slytherin currently stuffing his or her face with breakfast.

He couldn't just walk into the house without suspicions from Lucius arising, nor would he be able to find her quickly in one of the numerous dungeon cells at the bottom of the house. Plus, Draco's entire plan was based on his assumptions that Lucius had in fact kidnapped the girl and taken her to Malfoy Manor. Draco was almost certain this was the case, for he knew his father well. Lucius was an impatient man, and he often reacted immediately to things. This was not to say he was a rash man, for Lucius's mind was full of a cleverness and cunning that gave him this ability to act quickly without acting rashly most of the time. Despite this knowledge of his father, Draco could still not be _too_ sure of his suspicions.

He was sure about one thing, however: He had to save Ginny. It had nothing to do with wanting her to be safe, for he felt absolutely nothing but disdain and disgust towards the pest, but he knew what the consequences would be if he failed to retrieve her. Eventually, he himself would be captured also, and then there would be no hope left for the Light Side to win the war. Draco remained stubborn when it came to being involved with this war, though; he still planned to do no actual selfless fighting, just for the sake of others.

He turned his attention to the fire, staring into the glowing mass of bright oranges and reds which reminded him of Ginny, once more beginning to contemplate his plan of action. Should he simply waltz into the house under the pretense of visiting Lucius? His father would not fall for such a ploy. He could use his invisibility cloak to sneak in, but how would he find Ginny?

_The jewelry!_ he remembered. _Our jewelry leads us to the other when we have to find each other! _He took out his earring, genuinely smiling at it as he reveled in the fact that the two pieces of jewelry could somehow feel their owner's wishes and lead them to one another. This was definitely a special sort of magic, and he was glad for it. In his palm, the silver metal of his earring began to feel warm as the emerald colored jewel started to glow, sensing Draco's need to find Ginny.

Suddenly feeling sure that Ginny was at Malfoy Manor, Draco squeezed and pocketed the jewelry. He walked to his dorm room, retrieved his invisibility cloak, and went back to the fire. He'd decided he'd have to keep his little "visit" secret, and for this the cloak was a necessity. When Draco realized the Floo powder was beginning to stick to his sweaty palm, he threw it into the common room fire. The flames shot up into the air and turned a bright green color as Draco wiped the rest of the powder off on the couch beside him. Just as he was about to step into the flames and shout his destination, a voice stopped him.

"Going somewhere, Draco?"

Draco turned around to stare into the icy blue eyes of Pansy's, which were glowing eerily in the light of the green flames. She was leaning on the wall next to the door to the common room, arms folded casually across her chest. Her mouth was a straight line, her eyebrows raised slightly above her penetrating eyes.

"What's it to you, Parkinson? Get out of here; you've done enough damage as it is." Draco didn't need this girl messing things up any more for him.

"Damage, Draco? DAMAGE?" Pansy uncrossed her arms and balled her hands into fists at her side, looking as if she could attack Draco any second. She was furious at the way Draco was treating her, keeping her in the dark about what he was doing and acting as if she were a nuisance. What right did he have to talk to her in such a way? If anyone were doing damage, it was him. "I was merely helping the Dark Side, which is _definitely_ not something I can say for you. Exactly which side are you on, _Malfoy_?" Pansy emphasized his last name to remind him that he quite obviously belonged on the Dark Side.

"I am on no side, Parkinson--no side at all. I owe allegiance to no one but myself; I am loyal to no one but myself. I will not be brainwashed so easily by my family and fellow Slytherins, nor by some pitiful excuse for a wizard who doesn't even do his own dirty work." After finishing, Draco mentally beat himself for having done the same thing for the better part of his time at Hogwarts, always hiding behind Crabbe and Goyle. How pathetic.

Ignoring Draco's attack of her Dark Lord, Pansy addressed Draco's earlier statement. "Brainwashed? Is that what you're saying I am, Draco? I'm _brainwashed_?"

"I think it's quite obvious that you don't have a mind of your own when it comes to the War, Pansy."

She crossed her arms again, this time defensively, feeling unnerved by the fact that she really _hadn't_ ever thought things out for herself, instead always doggedly listening to her parents and friends. She remained defiant, however. "Why does it matter that I let my family choose my path early on in my life? I still would've chosen it no matter _what_ my upbringing!"

"Would you really have, Pansy? Would you?" Draco asked with finality, staring deep into her eyes. He then pulled his invisibility cloak over himself and walked into the fire to clearly shout, "Malfoy Manor!"

As he began to swirl up out of the fireplace, Draco distinctly heard Pansy scream, "SCREW YOU, MALFOY!" He smirked, because he knew he'd hit a nerve, which was good, since it might make Pansy actually think for herself for once.

Back in the common room, Pansy threw herself up the stairs to her dorm room, angry and confused.

--

"Harry, Ron! What's wrong?" Hermione asked, alarmed at the looks on the faces of her two best friends. She had just been woken up by them, as she had been studying in the library all night and had fallen asleep.

"What's wrong?! _What's wrong?!_" Ron screeched, his face turning red from worry and stress. "While you were in here all night, GINNY WENT MISSING!!!"

"What?!" Hermione gasped, turning to Harry for confirmation, which she received in a saddened nod. "What happened? How do you know she's not just wandering somewhere around the castle? She does like to be by herself a lot, Ron," she rationalized.

Harry shook his head this time, frowning deeply. "No, Hermione. When her roommates said she wasn't in bed this morning, and the clothes she had set out for today had remained untouched, we checked the Marauder's Map to find out where she was. Wherever she is, it's not in Hogwarts."

Hermione bit her lip, mentally laying out everything before her and trying to figure out where Ginny could be. "What do you two think has happened, exactly?" she asked.

"What does it matter what _we_ think?! All we know is that Ginny's not here, and she could be in grave danger if we don't DO something!" Ron shouted.

"Don't you think it's possible that Ginny might've decided to sneak out and go to Hogsmeade? She is a bit of a rebel, Ron--like the twins. Maybe she went to visit Fred and George?..."

Harry and Ron looked unconvinced. "That _could_ be it, Hermione," Harry spoke, "but Ron's right. We should still take precaution and tell Dumbledore or something!"

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE ACTING SO CALMLY, HERMIONE!" Ron exclaimed, flailing his arms out in frustration.

"Well, I'm sorry, Ron, but it just seems irrational to me to think that Ginny would be off somewhere and in trouble! Remember, she's been acting oddly lately, so this could be a result of that."

Harry restrained from screaming at Hermione that there was still a chance that Ginny _was_ in trouble and that they were obligated to make sure that she was okay. He didn't yell this because he didn't want her to think he was just wanting to be the hero like she had said two years earlier. "Hermione, I really think we should talk to Dumbledore anyway. Don't you care about Ginny?"

"Yeah, don't you care about her?!" Ron echoed.

"Listen..." Hermione announced authoritatively, "your mother has a clock that shows where everyone in your family is at the moment, correct, Ron?" She didn't wait for him to answer, but continued. "If Ginny doesn't know where she is, the clock would say Lost, and if she were in danger, wouldn't it be on Mortal Peril or something? If this were the case, then your parents would do something about it immediately. Is there much we could do that they couldn't, being underage students? We should just leave things to your family, though I still doubt that there's something seriously wrong."

Harry narrowed his eyes in thought, realizing that what Hermione had to say made sense. Ron stood defiantly, begrudgingly saying, "But we're still HERE, Hermione! Wherever Ginny is, she's closer to us than she is to Mum and Dad, so we could get things done much faster!"

"Okay, Ron, how about we wait things out until classes are over for the day, THEN try to find Ginny? If she hasn't turned up by the end of the day, we'll know something's up and we can go search for her."

Ron mumbled something under his breath, then complained, "I'd hate not knowing where she is... And if I find out that she wandered off campus during the night and that's all, then I'm REALLY going to let her have it, putting me through such worry. It would be loads of fun seeing her get in trouble with Mum after I tell on her..."

"I'm sure that's all it is, Ron, so you can have fun getting your 'revenge' afterwards," Hermione laughed, along with Harry, who had decidedly calmed down after listening to Hermione's rationalizations.

"Hermione's right, Ron," Harry assured Ron. "We shouldn't get involved just yet, when it's probably nothing."

Ron sighed. "Fine, but I really hate not knowing where she is. Where could she be?..."

Harry and Hermione shook their heads in wonder, letting Ron's question hang in the air. The three uncertainly gathered their things and headed to the Great Hall for breakfast.

--

Molly Weasley took a sip of pumpkin juice, sighing in pleasure. She was currently sitting in her living room, knitting a sweater for Hermione that said "Head Girl." She had been so proud of Hermione when she'd found out that she was Head Girl, almost as if it were her own daughter. She'd been working on the sweater as a congratulatory gift for her, and she'd been working on it ever since the kids left for Hogwarts. She wanted it to be a surprise, and Hermione had remained at the Burrow all during August.

Molly was happy with the progress she'd been making on the sweater, and she loved the quiet of the house after all of the action that it had been full of during the summer. With all of her children home, along with the addition of Hermione and Harry, everything had felt like the old days. However, Molly had to admit she was glad things were back to normal, and she was perfectly content right now.

She glanced up at the grandfather clock in the corner of the room, which she did every so often to make sure her family was safe and where they were supposed to be. Along the edge of the clock were the words Home, Work, Shopping, Traveling, Prison, With Friends, Lost, School, Having an Adventure, Hospital, and the two dreadful ones: Mortal Peril and Dying.

The clock used powerful magic to determine where each Weasley was. It was easy for the clock to tell if someone were at home, at work, in prison, etc., but it was harder to figure out the ambiguous ones such as Lost and in Mortal Peril. If the clock couldn't choose one of the basic locations for a Weasley, it would somehow tie into their thoughts, using these to find out where they could be. If the person didn't know where they were, they were Lost; if they sensed that their life was in danger, they were in Mortal Peril; if they were excited or scared, but not in any real danger, they were Having an Adventure.

Currently, Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, and Arthur were at Work, Molly was at Home, and Ron was With Friends. Molly smiled when she saw Ginny's hand on the clock, which was pointing to Having an Adventure. Molly wondered what Ginny was up to this time, and she hoped she wasn't going to get herself into trouble so early in the school year. How Ginny reminded her of Fred and George...

--

Draco shook himself off after stepping out of Malfoy Manor's living room fireplace, trying to rid himself of the hot ashes. He despised traveling by Floo powder. It was so...uncivilized.

He looked around the room to make sure no one occupied it, but he knew he wouldn't find anyone. The only purpose of the living room in Malfoy Manor was to use the fireplace to travel to Hogwarts and back, and no Malfoy could ever be found in it if this weren't their purpose. This was what Draco was used to, and he had always found it ironic.

Quietly slipping through the living room, Draco walked into the hallway and turned towards the dungeons. He felt some sort of force pulling him in that direction, and he suspected this was the earring's doings. As Draco made his way down the hall, he began to hear music float out from one of the rooms to his right. Pausing cautiously to figure out what the music was, Draco realized it was a woman humming. He sighed silently and moved towards the doorway where the humming was coming from.

Sitting in the forest green rocking chair was Narcissa Malfoy--Draco's mother. She had her eyes closed, and she was quietly humming a classical piece that was written by a wizard composer back in the 1800's. A small smile shone on Narcissa's face, and Draco couldn't help but grin widely at this. It was a very rare thing to catch his mother smiling, as she made it a point to always show no emotion around others, unless in public, where she would act superior to everyone else. She didn't speak much either, for she'd found this was the best way to deal with Lucius.

This façade used to disturb Draco, either making him feel like his mother was pompous like his father or just completely apathetic. When Draco was eight years old, however, he had caught Narcissa smiling to herself one day while relaxing on one of the Malfoys' couches. A few other times he caught her alone, but he was lucky whenever he was able to, even after he had received his invisibility cloak. Draco decided that Narcissa never realized that he would watch her, or she would have wiped all emotion from her face.

It made him happy to see his mother happy, because... Well, he wasn't sure exactly why. He didn't love his mother, because she had never exactly interacted with him in his life, and he couldn't develop loving feelings towards someone who was just...there. He thought that maybe he just felt a sort of understanding with his mother, being that they both had to put up with Lucius. He felt connected to her, so when she was glad, he was glad too. If he saw Lucius hit her, he felt pained too. If she kept her emotions hidden, he hid his too.

Draco couldn't help but stand in the doorway for a few minutes, just watching his silver-haired mother sit in the chair. There were no windows in the room, so the only thing lighting it up was a single candle in the corner, its flames making shadows across Narcissa's pretty face. It was a beautiful sight, surreal and enchanting, and Draco was entranced by it.

Draco finally shook himself out of his reverie and turned back around to search for Ginny once more, stealing one last glance at his dream-like mother. As he started back on his path towards the dungeon, he heard a whisper of, "Goodbye, Draco" from the room.

Bewildered, Draco paused for a second, but then continued back down the hall again, disregarding the voice. He decided that he was just hearing things, for he had been invisible the entire time and there was no way Narcissa could've known he was there.

He then pushed the thoughts of his mother out of his mind, again focusing on his goal of finding Ginny. He silently moved to the dungeons, working his way throughout the passageways and letting himself be guided by the force of his earring.

--

"Ah, I see you're awake, _girl_," Lucius drawled, spitting out the word "girl" as if it were poison on his lips.

"How _observant_ of you," Ginny replied scathingly, glaring at the man behind the door. She wasn't going to let Lucius walk all over her like she'd let Draco do the past two times she'd run into him, and she felt like she had a score to settle with the entire family. She wasn't going to go out without a fight.

"I see you have a lip on you," he sneered, taken aback by Ginny's reply. She obviously didn't realize whom she was dealing with, and the only reason he wasn't going to make her pay for her comment was that her attitude amused him at the same time that it disgusted him. He also needed information from her. "If you value your life, girl, then you'll comply with my demands." Pulling out the red amulet with a swish of his robes, Lucius continued. "Now, I have a few questions for you."

Ginny raised her eyes to see her necklace in his hand, just as she had suspected. Seeing her precious amulet in the enemy's hands right before her began to fill Ginny with fury at the fact that he had taken, without a second thought, what rightfully belonged to _her_. How _dare_ he. _And that's not to mention the fact that he also took ME. The git._

Ginny's thoughts were broken as Lucius spoke once more. "How does one control this item, _Virginia_?"

Ginny shivered at the sound of her full name on this serpent's lips. She wanted so badly to slap him across the face right now, but not only would that be the _stupidest_ thing to do, it was also impossible as he was on the other side of the large door. "Like I'd tell _you_ anything, Death Eater."

"Sure of yourself, aren't you, Weasley? Possibly hoping that the other mystimorph will come and save you?" Ginny's face remained stolid. "Well what would you say if I told you that I have captured the other mystimorph as well?"

An involuntary gasp escaped Ginny's lips at Lucius's revelation. _He's caught Draco too?! He's caught his own son?! Is he in another dungeon cell? NOW what's going to happen?_

"Ahh, by your reaction, I assume you know this person. This is good... Now, tell me whom the other mystimorph is, Virginia."

"W-what?" Ginny spoke, confused. Hadn't he just said he'd captured the other one? And now he was asking her whom it was? "I thought you had them captured!"

"Of course not, you gullible fool! It was a way to find out if you even knew of the other mystimorph!" He smirked at his ingenuity. Ginny silently cursed herself, realizing that she had fallen for his mind game. If she had just pretended like she didn't know there was even another mystimorph, then Lucius would have left her alone, for she wouldn't have been of any help! "Now, the other mystimorph. _Give me their name._"

"Never!" she bit back at him.

Lucius smirked at her reply, which he had been expecting. "Not going to comply, then? I think this would normally call for some Veritaserum to get what I want quickly and efficiently, _but_... I think I might just give you a taste of the Cruciatus Curse instead. Well, Virginia? Wouldn't that be fun?"

"Yes. I would enjoy that." On the inside, Ginny was beginning to tremble. She had never experienced the Cruciatus Curse before, and she had always hoped she never would. Talking back to Lucius seemed like a mistake right now, but sometimes she just couldn't hold back that tongue of hers, even in situations such as this. She wasn't planning on telling Lucius about Draco, though, so this was obviously unavoidable. _At least_, she thought, _the pain would have been no less searing even if I had chosen to act cowardly before this demon._

Lucius sneered at Ginny's reaction. He began to wonder what had happened to the timid Ginny Weasley whom he had known five years past. He would be sure to wipe this new trait, this courage and defiance, off of her immediately. Just as Lucius lifted his wand into the air and Ginny glared into his cold eyes, preparing herself for the inevitable torture, faint footsteps could be heard by Lucius's keen ears. He turned around, wand arm still held high, prepared to catch a glimpse of this intruder. No one, save himself, should be allowed in the dungeons at such a time...

Ginny's eyebrows furrowed when she saw Lucius turn around. Why did he turn around? What could have happened to distract Lucius from the forthcoming pleasure of cursing her? Her questions were answered when she began to hear slow footsteps making their way through the dungeons, but now new questions arose to replace the old ones. Who was that coming? Was it Voldemort? Icy fear coated Ginny's insides at the thought of meeting that reptile again face-to-face. _Please don't let it be Voldemort..._

_--_

Author's Note: Why does the Weasley clock not say Mortal Peril for Ginny??? Will Draco be able to save her??? Will the Dream Team have to get involved??? WHO KNOW?! You sure don't, and you won't until I update! And I won't update unless you **REVIEW!!!!!**

I'd like to add that Narcissa's character and the whole thing with Draco catching her smiling to herself was inspired by the relationship between Adam and his stepmother in _East of Eden _by John Steinbeck (which I don't own, of course). If you haven't read that book, I highly recommend it.

Time for thank you's!:

**alecatq** - Amen! Poor everyone! X-P

**The Fate In Purple** - Yay, you really liked that chapter! :-D Yes, yes, I guess addictions aren't TOO bad. It just depends on what you're addicted to. I LOVE THAT YOU'RE ADDICTED TO THIS STORY! :-) Was this chapter long enough (and good enough) to satisfy your addiction for now?

**fieryred20** - Thanks! :-)

**Novalee Sims** - Yeah, I know Ginny's real name is Ginevra Molly Weasley, but if you read my author's note in chapter two, you'll see that I'm choosing to use Virginia just 'cause I like it better. I'm stubborn, I know. :-/ Heh, and now you can see that I'm not finished with Pansy just yet. I WAS going to end her part in the story after the last chapter, but then I decided to use her more because she's such a fun character to work with. Hope you liked her in this chapter! And thanks for your wonderful review! :-)

Ha, thought you'd get away without me doing something crazy in order to get reviews? 'CAUSE YOU'RE WRONG, BWAHAHAHAH! I shall sing you a song about the importance of reviewing.

Oooooh...

Reviewing is good!

Reviewing is fun!

If you review my story

I'll give you a Draco plushie!

Wasn't that a great song? I mean, other than the fact that it had no tune, didn't rhyme, had no meter, and wasn't 100 percent truthful? Of COURSE it was a great song! SO** REVIEW!!!!!!!!!! **(holds up imaginary Draco plushie to motivate you)


End file.
